The Moai as a temporary ceremonial object
The stone statues were not meant to last forever, no matter how much we try to extend their life.
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For most visitors to Rapa Nui it is easy to see the structures. The ceremonial centers, or ahu really stand out in the flat-ish landscape of the island. However, those same visitors have a hard time understanding the process behind their construction. Originally built as places to honor powerful ancestors of high ranking lineages, ahu became living, breathing, dynamic structures in constant change, subject to all sorts of modifications over time. They became incresingly political with the fragmentation of Rapa Nui’s society into a tribal one, having ancestor spirits exterting their influence through their moai towards the territory (kāinga) of each kin group (mata). The construction and transportation of every moai establishing very strong social cohesion within the mata. Not even the fall of the moai in the 18th and 19th centuries would stop the evolution of these places. The majority of the ahu were re-purposed as mass graves.
What is even less evident is what is underneath the ahu. What is seen is only what’s on the surface. But that is only the final incarnation of a ceremonial center on a particular site. Almost every single time one of these has been restored, something is found under the currently visible structure. William Mulloy, who worked on the Tahai Archaeological Complex between 1968 and 1970 quickly found earlier statues buried, forming part of the rubble fill in Ahu Vai Uri. In a similar manner, many early statues were found buried under or used as part of the structure of monumental ceremonial platforms like Ahu O Rongo in Hanga Roa, Ahu Naunau in Anakena and, likely the most prominent example, dozens of earlier moai found at Ahu Tongariki, some of which were exposed already by a tsunami in 1960 or revealed during the restoration work in the early 1990s.
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Considering all the available evidence, it is almost certain that many hundreds of moai, either complete or broken up, still lay buried under some of the most impressive ceremonial centers of Rapa Nui. Ahu with elevated platforms like Ra’ai, Tētenga, ‘One Makihi, Vai Matā, Heki’i Nui a Papa Hou, Te Peu and others would certainly have some. Since all of these ahu were reused as mass burial places, excavations in them would face another ethical conundrum we will deal with at some later time, however it’s a fair assumption a large number of early style moai are hidden in some of their layers.
But old moai were not only reused as fill for a new platform. Places like Ahu Ma’itaki te Moa, Ahu Naunau in Anakena, Ahu O Paro (aka Te Pito Kura) and Ahu A Kaha near the beach of Ovahe, have either full statues, statue faces or fragments of statues used as parts of their retaining walls, preventing the ceremonial centers from collapsing under the weight of the new, usually massive statues that were erected on them. The old supports the new. Other mysterious small, old-styled moai of unknown use are sometimes found near the ahu, neither buried nor used for the walls, but for something else: the statue partially exposed behind the wall of the now called Ahu Tahiri in Vinapū, facing east; the six small statues fallen face-down to the west and north of Ahu Maunu Kio’e in Hanga Poukura, a statue fallen face down in a similar fashion inland from Ahu Ura Uranga Te Mahina, etc.
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The possible reasons for this practice of discarding some moai, reusing them as fill material or foundation blocks, or for astronomical orientation or whatever use some of the others had away from the central platform, has not been thoroughly discussed in any sources. Thing is: nobody knows. And speculating about it can be fun, but it’s only useful as long as it fits along with the rest of the scarce evidence in some kind of model about ceremonial centers in pre-Christian Rapa Nui. It’s the kind of model no one dares to make in this world of hiperspecialized archaeology and anthropology. What is certain is that these early moai were once used in ancestor-cult ceremonies. They have all the traits of the later period statues, including the deep eye sockets, a trait only reserved for statues that stood upright on ceremonial platforms. But after some time, be it decades or centuries, their time came to an end and they were scrapped, used as foundations for something new. Always for something bigger, greater, more refined.
Captain James Cook, who visited Rapa Nui in 1774 is the first foreigner who mentions fallen moai on Rapa Nui. He says in his log that he saw sometimes on the same monument, some statues standing and others fallen. Did they fall on their own? Was the fall the moment of expiration for any particular statue? Places like the already mentioned Ahu Ura Uranga te Mahina, Ahu Vai Matā, Ahu Naunau and Ahu Maunu Kio’e seem like a single monument, but they are split in two very distinct styles of construction that seem to be from different eras. In fact, in the case of Ahu Naunau, some rocks of the eastern side were used to complete the western, more recent side of the monument. One side left to decay and the other reaching its splendour. Could that be what Cook saw? By the 19th Century, the Rapanui people’s society was trying to adapt to really fast changes, facing ravaging diseases and reformulating their social ways. Their spiritual ideas had drifted already towards the much more topical “fertility cult”. There was no thinking on renewing any ahu like in the past, even when the last moai fell. But that is discussion for another post.
The fact that, since the beginning of the moai phase, the islanders continued to make the ahu evolve, and the moai decline and be replaced only to improve their ceremonial sites, has some serious implications. The Rapanui master carvers and workers of late would clearly know that their works had an expiration date. There was no thought of making a “definitive monument”: One that would last forever, or even for a thousand years. There is not such thing as a final ahu. They will change, and the moai, no matter how large, finely crafted, stylized and polished it is, will cease to play its role, only to be replaced by something greater. The greater material thing the Rapanui people created was considered a perishable thing and the islanders had no illusion of making anything everlasting. What ultimately lasted was the tradition of moai carving and transporting, not the moai themselves.