(alter-ego partner to mcy-mayanFace)  see island details below HEADS

Moai (head) - easter island statues

Mo'ai" are monolithic human figures carved from rock on Rapa Nui / Easter Island, mostly between 1250 and 1500 CE. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku the main Moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on Ahu (platforms) which were mostly at the islands perimeter. Almost all have overly large heads three fifths the size of their body. The Moai are the “living faces” (aringa ora) and representations of chiefly, deified ancestors.[1] Sitting on their Ahus with their backs to the sea, these statues were still gazing across their clan lands when European first visited the island, but most were then cast down during conflict between different clans on the island.

The production and transportation process required significant intellect, use of resources, and creativity, and is considered a remarkable feat of human endeavour.[2] The tallest moai erected, "Paro", was almost 10 metres (33 ft) high and weighed 75 tonnes (74 Imperial tons, 83 short tons) [3] the heaviest erected was a shorter but squatter moai at Ahu Tongariki which weighed 86 tonnes; while one unfinished sculpture would have been approximately 21 metres (69 ft) tall with a weight of about 270 short tons.
.............................................

Easter Island is over 2,000 miles from the nearest population center, (Tahiti and Chile), making it one of the most isolated places on Earth. A triangle of volcanic rock in the  South Pacific - it is best known for the giant stone monoliths, known as Moai, that dot the coastline. The early settlers called the island "Te Pito O Te Henua" (Navel of The World). Admiral Roggeveen, who came upon the island on Easter Day in 1722, named it Easter Island. Today, the land, people and language are all referred to locally as Rapa Nui.

There has been much controversy and confusion concerning the origins of the Easter Islanders. Thor Heyerdahl proposed that the people who built the statues were of Peruvian descent, due to a similarity between Rapa Nui and Incan stonework. Some have suggested that Easter Island is the remnant of a lost continent, or the result of an extra-terrestrial influence . Archaeological evidence, however, indicates discovery of the island by Polynesians at about 400 AD - led, according to legend, by Hotu Matua. Upon their arrival, an impressive and enigmatic culture began to develop. In addition to the statues, the islanders possessed the Rongorongo script; the only written language in Oceania. The island is also home to many petroglyphs (rock carvings), as well as traditional wood carvings, tapa (barkcloth) crafts, tattooing, string figures, dance and  music.   

Easter Island was given the name Rapa Nui (Great Rapa) by Tahitian sailors, in the 1860's. This is the name used today locally.