In this magical shot, today’s Flickr Find photographer – JC Richardson – snapped the Moai on Easter Island with a backdrop of stars, creating an alluring image mixing the exotic ancient world with a romantic scenery. The end result is an image of immense beauty – the capture is simply astounding.
The Moai are located at Rapa Nui, and are monolithic carvings of human figures, dating back as early as 400AD or as late as 1700AD – many several generations have been making their own Moai!And it’s a popular misconception that they’re just giant heads – these hardy guys have bodies too!
Oh – and they’re not just black stone. The Moai are made from dark scoria (hardened volcanic ash) with red scoria for the capstones. They even have eyes made from white coral with red scoria or black obsidian used for the pupils!
As is often the case with the Ancient world, there is much mystery surrounding the Moai. For example, just how do you move around a 20-ton hunk of rock when a crane wouldn’t be invented for another millennium or so? Various theories have been devised and tested, which mainly involved getting a lot of people to pull on ropes wrapped around Moai and seeing how far they can get them.
Oh, and if you’re planning on visiting these fantastic relics, then a word to the wise. Don’t chip away your own souvenir like a Finnish chap did last year.. unless you want to get hit with a $17,000 fine and a ban from the islands, of course! Your chance to take off with one is long over.. 😉