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1.0 Preamble
This web article is about that mystery of Easter Island, also known as 'Rapa
Nui' ...
2.0 Notes
Let's have a quick look at some brief notes about Easter Island ... Known
locally as Rapa Nui, Easter Island is an island of Chile in the southern
Pacific Ocean about 3,701 km (2,300 mi) west of the mainland.
It was discovered by Dutch explorers on Easter Day, 1722.
The island is famous for its hieroglyphic tablets and colossal heads carved
from volcanic rock. The ancient remains, of unknown origin, have inspired many
legends and theories, such as the fringe theories (e.g., Ancient Astronauts
theory) advocated by popular authors like Erich von Däniken (in his Chariots of the Gods?).
More than a thousand years ago, various Polynesian tribes settled on this
remote island.
What does the ecological disaster which the Easter Islanders had inflicted on
themselves through abuse of their environment (such as total deforestation, by
cutting down every palm tree to support their tribal-competition
statue-building activities) have to do with what we are doing to our world
today? From one perspective, nothing, of course! From another perspectice,
everything ... for Planet Earth is as isolated in our corner of the Universe as
Easter Island is isolated in the southeastern Pacific Ocean.
Here is what the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, has to say about Easter Island ...
Easter Island (Rapa Nui: Rapa Nui, Spanish: Isla de Pascua) is a Polynesian island in the
southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian
triangle. The island is a special territory of Chile. Easter Island is famous
for its monumental statues, called moai ..., created by the Rapanui people. It
is a world heritage site with much of the island protected within the Rapa Nui
National Park.
[...]
Moai (statues)
The large stone statues, or moai, for which Easter Island is world-famous, were
carved during a relatively short and intense burst of creative and productive
megalithic activity. A total of 887 monolithic stone statues have been
inventoried on the island and in museum collections. Although often identified
as "Easter Island heads", the statues are actually complete torsos, the figures
kneeling on bent knees with their hands over their stomach. Some upright moai
have become buried up to their necks by shifting soils.
The period when the statues were produced remains disputed, with estimates
ranging from 400 CE to 1500–1700 CE. Almost all (95%) moais were carved out of
distinctive, compressed, easily worked volcanic ash or tuff found at a single
site inside the extinct volcano Rano Raraku. The native islanders who carved
them used only stone hand chisels, mainly basalt toki, which still lie in place
all over the quarry. The stone chisels were re-sharpened by chipping off a new
edge when dulled. The volcanic stone the moai were carved from was first wetted
to soften it before sculpting began, then again periodically during the
process. While many teams worked on different statues at the same time, a
single moai would take a team of five or six men approximately one year to
complete. Each statue represents a deceased long-ear chief or important person,
their body interred within the ahu, or coastal platforms, the moai stand upon.
Only a quarter of the statues were installed, while nearly half still remain in
the quarry at Rano Raraku and the rest elsewhere on the island, probably on
their way to final locations. The largest Moai is known as "Paro" weighing 82
tons.... There are several others close to this size. Pictures of these can be
found in Thor Heyerdahl's books.... Moving the huge statues required a miro
manga erua, a Y-shaped sledge with cross pieces, pulled with ropes made from
the tough bark of the hau-hau tree..., and tied fast around the statue's neck.
Anywhere from 180 to 250 men were required for pulling, depending on the size
of the moai. There is some doubt about whether this method could be used
successfully. For more information about past experiments and some far fetched
theories see the following PBS site.... Some 50 of the now standing statues
have been re-erected in modern times. The first moai was re-erected on the
beach of Anakena in 1958 using traditional methods during an expedition to the
island by Thor Heyerdahl.
While the vast majority of moai follow a fairly standard design, a few are
radically different, in most parts badly eroded and broken. These are believed
to predate the better-known moai, including a kneeling statue with hands on its
knees, parts of a statue with clearly carved ribs and a headless, rectangularly
shaped torso. Similarities to Indian stone statues around Lake Titicaca in
South America are striking, whether this is accidental or not....
[...]
Petroglyphs
Petroglyphs are pictures carved into rock, and Easter Island has one of the
richest collections in all Polynesia. Around 1,000 sites with more than 4,000
petroglyphs are catalogued. Designs and images were carved out of rock for a
variety of reasons: to create totems, to mark territory or to memorialize a
person or event. There are distinct variations around the island in terms of
the frequency of particular themes among petroglyphs, with a concentration of
Birdmen at Orongo. Other subjects include sea turtles, Komari (vulvas) and
Makemake, the chief god of the Tangata manu or Birdman cult....
3.0 YouTube Videos
3.1 Video Clips
Here are some video clips from the popular video hosting site, YouTube, about Easter Island (aka Rapa Nui) ...
Tags: BBC easter island pacific ocean ships geography dutch explorers stone
age research engravings man bird mystery palm trees forest statues
scientists theory war tribes tribal warriors Worldwide Mystery Statue
Civil War Battle Free Global warming Folk Music Environment Climate
Change climatechallenge grassroots outreach Fred Moolten polynesia
pacific ocean moai rapa nui ariki aku-aku hotu matua itnsource
uneplained mystery Easter Island statues rock formation animation
claymation clay mation stop stopmotion warhammer chaos 40k easter
island head monster automatic queen badly Chile Rano Raraku BT isla
de pascua
3.2 Video Summaries
Here are the YouTube video summaries:
Title: Easter Island Rapa Nui, Moai statues and heads in Polynesia From: BoilerPlateFilms Added: March 16, 2007 Info-Description: www.bradshawfoundation.com Documentary film on Easter Island and Rapa Nui, Moai statues and heads in
Polynesia and Pacific.
Title: Easter Island Head Wars From: tacklebag Added: April 02, 2007 Info-Description: Chaos Marines in Easter Island
Title: Easter Island Moai From: monocrater Added: September 02, 2006 Info-Description: Walking alone among the mo'ai at Rano Raraku, Easter Island in 1997. This
short music video clip - featuring BT - is just a sample of my experience from
the most amazing destination I have ever visited - Easter Island. Enjoy!
Title: Global Treasures EASTER ISLAND Rapa Nui Chile From: TravelVideoStore Added: April 24, 2008 Info-Description: GTR-DVD-1040 - Around 3,500 kilometres west of the mainland of Chile is
the Pacific island of Rapa Nui, otherwise known as Easter Island. Three million
years ago volcanic activity created this small island of lava that covers an
area of a hundred and sixty square kilometres. Rapa Nui is one of the most remote places on Earth and its
closest neighbour is Pitcairn Island more than two thousand kilometres west. Since its discovery by Dutch sailors on Easter Sunday, 1722,
there has been a great deal of interest in the island. In spite of its growing
tourist trade the island has retained an air of tranquillity and is ideal for
nature lovers and those interested in its history. Theories abound as to who
were the first settlers to arrive on this tiny island but scientists believe
that its first inhabitants originated from Eastern Polynesia. But the island's main focal point are its gigantic and
mysterious stone monuments that date back to late pre-historic times. These
mighty statues have always stimulated a certain amount of fantasy as the island
was thought to be part of a lost continent. Nearly all the mighty figures, known as Moai, originated from
the slopes of the Rano Raraku Volcano. Its Tuff stone was an ideal sculpting
material and its soft texture made it possible for the islanders to create
tall, massive statues out of the rock within only a few weeks. There are still
almost four hundred individually crafted Moai figures on the island. During the 19th century slave traders arrived and took with
them thousands of the island's inhabitants. Those that were left of the
island's religious leaders took their knowledge of the island and its culture
to their graves. Thus the exact meaning of the intriguing, giant Megalithic
sculptures will remain an unsolved mystery for the rest of time. Global Treasures - History's Most Protected Monuments -
Heritage is our legacy from the past, what we live today, and what we pass on
to future generations. our cultural and natural heritage are both irreplaceable
sources of life and inspiration. Places as unique and diverse as the wilds of
East Africa's Serengeti, the Pyramids of Egypt, the Great Barrier Reef in
Australia and the Baroque cathedrals of Latin America make up our world's
heritage. Join us as we explore one of these protected monuments.
Title: Easter Island [FlyingMonkFilms] From: FlyingMonkFilms Added: June 12, 2007 Info-Description: Easter Island, Chile http://www.flyingmonk.com/easterislan... Easter Island is known mainly for the colossal statues named
"moai" that were placed on the local temple platforms, "ahu", watching
impassable inland to protect the clan that raised them in that place. They
represent the "mana" or the spiritual power of the deceased leader of the local
community named in the island "ariki". The mystery that surround these statues
still persists no matter that more or less their history and origin are
explained in various theories but when you visit the island the mystery stays
with you during the entire visit. The island's name is the same as the language spoken on it,
"Rapa Nui" but the legendary name is more significant meaning the Navel of the
World. The legend says that the first king of the island, Hotu
Matua, dreamt that he will move his population on this island and landed on one
of the few beaches shortly after that. He brought here a population that was
named in history the Long Ears, a name that came from the elongated ears' lobes
caused by the heavy ear rings they wore. Later, a new population came or was
captured and brought to the island and named the Short Ears, these new
inhabitants becoming the builders of the existing "moai".
4.0 Postscript
This web article comprises some notes and YouTube video clips,
on the Mystery of Atlantis.
The brief notes on Atlantis show that, at best, we have only hearsay
accounts — and not even secondhand, but
third-hand accounts! — of the Legend of Atlantis.
The YouTube videos featured here, in this web article, are TV documentaries
that have been aired / broadcasted in the past.
It should be realized that Atlantis is still regarded as a Fringe area of
exploration because, despite all these searches and explorations, no one has
yet come forward with proofs that satisfy the scientific mainstream or even the
mainstream historians.
Please do not assume or conclude that, just because I present many views (in
the form of textual notes and video clips) on this website, it means that I am
in agreement with or that I believe in the views offered-proferred ... That
would be displaying such a parochial and provincial attitude, towards this
website and towards me as well!
As an ex-military officer, I assure you that I am in the habit of reading,
viewing and digesting lots of stuff that I don't necessarily believe in ... We
call all the stuff we read, view and digest, 'military intelligence' ... The
same applies with 'business intelligence' in the business world, of course.
Our aim, as usual, is to find out what others (including our friends, enemies,
competitors, suppliers, strategic partners, business partners, etc.) believe in
... In order to do that effectively, we have to 'get out of the way', so to
speak ... we have to remove our humongous ego! ... else we will never ever
really have gotten started in our journey of exploration and discovery of the
Mysteries of the World
.
Here is a sentiment that I am wholeheartedly in agreement with ...
As I sit down to redo this book for an American audience, what rises before me
is last night's dream: I'm in a broad and beautiful land among many trees. It's
night. I look up at a huge old tree that's dark against the starry sky in its
detail of twig and branch. There is room enough here for all of us, I realize,
here in this big, intricately textured park. But I see that some want to cut
down the trees and level it out, so huge throngs of people can gather to gaze
up at the sun's glare. I watch dark twigs fingering the remote, untouchable
stars. A voice speaks: "Don't turn this into a Copernican Garden."
Waking up, I remember that I went to sleep wondering how to put this book
together. And I take "Copernican Garden" to mean a parking lot vista where
masses gather to honor the bright sun of traditional science with its old rules
as the center of the universe.
So I will not cut down the trees and level this book out. It is between you and
me [or you and I], a conversation as we stroll along in a moonlit fractal
garden past webby connections of thought that merge to patterned insight. Here
hidden delights nestle in scaling patterns of self-similar but never quite
repeating beauty. Here the tree of life hold stars in its branches. No matter
how huge, this garden stays human-sized because we have a place in it, you and
I. No need to cut down the connective forest and level things out for that
bright Sol [sun] of left-brain logic whose daytime dazzle — so
close and glaring — can blind us to the myriad constellations
beyond.
[...]
— Katya Walter,
Tao of Chaos
Sub-title:
Merging East and West
(1994, 1996)
Here is an observation (adapted) made in the Acknowledgement page of a book ...
It takes many minds to produce a book [including an e-book, of course].
Although most authors [especially of non-fiction books and articles] would
prefer not to admit this fact, fundamentally they are merely 'synthesisers' of
accumulated knowledge.
The process of synthesising may unveil a new reality map, or paradigm, which,
in due course, will be used by future pioneers to unveil further paradigms.
This principle was summed up by Sir Isaac Newton when he remarked: "If I have
seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants".
[...]
— Christian von Nidda,
Our Secret Planet
(2005)
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, the 'Mysteries of the World' Website does NOT aim to sensationalize any
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viewpoints pertaining to each 'Mystery' — including the fringe
AND the mainstream.
We will, of course, come to a conclusion (eventually!) about each 'Mystery' ...
even if that conclusion may eventually turn out to be 'as yet unresolved' or
'unexplained to our satisfaction'.
