The statues called moai found on Easter Island are among the most iconic marvels in the world. And this week, one was discovered that was previously not known about.
Fire damaged the area around the Rano Raraku volcano, and the moai statue was discovered in the dried out lake bed, BBC reported.
“This moai has great potential for scientific and natural studies — it’s a really unique discovery as it’s the first time that that a moai has been discovered inside a laguna (lake) in a Rano Raraku crater,” the Ma’u Henua Indigenous community said in a statement, per The Guardian.
What is the history of Easter Island?
The island is about 2,300 miles from Chile, and Polynesian residents on the island have Chilean citizenship. Indigenous people call the island and themselves Rapa Nui, but Dutch colonizers named it “Paaseiland,” or Easter Island, in 1722. There are nearly 900 gigantic stone figures that are centuries old and “reveal their creators to be master craftsmen and engineers,” according to the History Channel.
What do the statues on Easter Island represent?
According to the BBC, “the moai are figures of spiritual devotion for the Rapa Nui, embodying the spirit of a prominent ancestor.”
The island is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is a national park. Many of the statues were charred in a forest fire in October that ultimately exposed the unknown statue.
The statues draw around 100,000 tourists to the island each year, per research from Uppsala University.
What will happen to the new moai statue?
Ma’u Henua director Ninoska Avareipua Huki Cuadros told ABC there are “no plans to remove the Moai from where it is.”
Researchers are looking to secure funding to perform more archaeological research on the newly discovered statue.