The statues that are scattered across Easter Island are made out of single blocks of stone and are called Moai. The rectangular stone platforms that the Moai are mounted on are called Ahu. The statues vary in height and weight, but average to be 13 feet tall and 14 tons. The largest Moai, named "El Gigante," is 71.93 feet tall and approximately145-165 tons. There are approximately 900 statues that are scattered across the island.
There is no written history and very little oral history over the island, so there is no known reason for why these statues were built. However, it is suspected that they were built to honor ancestors, chiefs, or deities within Rapa Nui because all of the Moai face inland and not out to sea.
The weather is said to be pretty nice year-round, but most tourists travel there during the Southern Hemisphere summer, which is from January to March.
Flights to reach the Island can be taken from Santiago, Chile and Tahiti. The extremely isolated island sits roughly 2,300 miles west of South America and its closest island is still 1,100 miles away.
Cars, motorcycles and bikes are available for rent to visitors who want to explore the island, with its many scattered archaeological sites and beaches available to the public.
An excavation process, called "The Easter Island Statue Project," revealed what lay below the mysterious heads that littered the island. As shown above, the excavation found that the heads actually have bodies as well.
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