The statues of Easter Island

Выполнили ученики 10 класса МБОУ СШ №6 г. Павлово Зольников А., Сорокин В
Easter Island is a small, hilly, now treeless island of volcanic origin. Located in the Pacific Ocean at 27 degrees south of the equator and some 2200 miles (3600 kilometers) off the coast of Chile, it is considered to be the world's most remote inhabited island and  is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai.
 In the 1860’s Tahitian sailors gave the island the name Rapa Nui, meaning ‘Great Rapa’. But the island received its most well known current name from the Dutch sea captain Jacob Roggeveen, who, on Easter Sunday, April 5, 1722, became the first European to visit.
Mysterious giants, called "moai" silently rise on the Pacific ocean, standing in line and looking toward the shore. These giants like an army, defend their possessions. Despite the simplicity of the figures, the moai are fascinating. Especially powerful these sculptures look in the rays of the setting sun.
The statues were symbols of authority and power, both religious and political. But they were not only symbols. To the people who erected and used them, they were actual repositories of sacred spirit. 
The giant effigies or moai were sculpted, probably during the 12th to 17th century, in volcanic rock from the inactive volcano of Rano Raraku. Around 300 statues were made within the walls of the crater and were later transported through the slope.
Most of the island’s statues are 5.5 to 7 m tall, and very few are shorter than 3 m The largest statue ever made, El Gigante, still lies unfinished at Rano Raraku. It was a monstrous 21.6 m (71.9 ft) long, and weighed up to 270 tons. Some statues are also still lying at the top of Rano Raraku, where they were carved
For a long time it was believed that the massive statutes consisted of just the heads.But they had bodies. The bodies of the statues go far deeper underground than just about anyone had imagined.
Easter Island’s Statues Reveal Bodies Are Covered With Unknown Ancient PetroglyphsMany of these ancient Petroglyphs remain undeciphered and the history of one of the most remote islands in the world is now even more mysterious than ever.
Once the moai was completely finished it had to be moved to its final location. Moving the moai was a challenge in itself, many of them were destroyed on its way. The average moai weighs 10 tons and its final location was as far as 14 miles or 22.5 kilometers.
It is not known exactly how the moai were moved across the island, but the process almost certainly required human energy, ropes, and possibly wooden sledges and rollers, as well as leveled tracks across the island. The mystery will remain with us.