Where is Easter Island?
Posted by Terry McAlistar | Posted in | Posted on 3:41 AM
Easter Island, one of the most mysterious islands in the world, is in the South Pacific 2,000 miles west of Caldera in Chile and 1,000 miles east of Pitcairn, its nearest inhabited neighbour. It was annexed by Chile in 1888. The island which is volcanic in origin, was discovered by the Dutch admiral Jacob Roggeveen on Easter Sunday, 1722. It is 11 miles long and 15 miles wide.
Easter Island is noted for its mysterious statues of remote and unknown. origin. These statues, consisting of giant heads facing inland, fringe the island’s coastline. They stand on huge ramparts or platforms which slope landwards, in some cases to a width of 250 feet. At the end of this sloping rampart there is a paved area.
There are some 260 of these platforms on the island and each one was designed- to support between one and 15 of the strange giant heads, carved from compressed volcanic earth. The heads have upturned faces tilted towards the sky, and long ears. They vary in height from 12 to 20 feet. At one time they were topped by huge hats or crowns between six and eight feet in diameter. These hats are made from a red volcanic material different from the material used for the heads themselves.
The island is full of ancient curiosities including long, narrow boat-shaped houses flanked by stone chicken huts. The inhabitants are descendants of Polynesian people who migrated across the Pacific.
There is a legend of a war between the “long-eared” people and their “short-eared” attackers. The long-eared defenders of the island were said to have been burned in a vast earth ovan, but the latest scientific evidence suggests that the “earth oven” was in fact a vast defensive ditch. Ashes in this ditch date from the 17th Century, only a short time before - the island’s discovery.
But the real truth about Easter Island and its mysterious statues will probably never be known until someone finds out how to read the curious sign language inscribed round the platforms. These signs, which are geometrical in form, are really symbols such as birds, plants and fishes. They may be like the “memory aids” of the ancient Aztecs, but experts believe they are an elementary form of writing.
Easter Island is noted for its mysterious statues of remote and unknown. origin. These statues, consisting of giant heads facing inland, fringe the island’s coastline. They stand on huge ramparts or platforms which slope landwards, in some cases to a width of 250 feet. At the end of this sloping rampart there is a paved area.
There are some 260 of these platforms on the island and each one was designed- to support between one and 15 of the strange giant heads, carved from compressed volcanic earth. The heads have upturned faces tilted towards the sky, and long ears. They vary in height from 12 to 20 feet. At one time they were topped by huge hats or crowns between six and eight feet in diameter. These hats are made from a red volcanic material different from the material used for the heads themselves.
The island is full of ancient curiosities including long, narrow boat-shaped houses flanked by stone chicken huts. The inhabitants are descendants of Polynesian people who migrated across the Pacific.
There is a legend of a war between the “long-eared” people and their “short-eared” attackers. The long-eared defenders of the island were said to have been burned in a vast earth ovan, but the latest scientific evidence suggests that the “earth oven” was in fact a vast defensive ditch. Ashes in this ditch date from the 17th Century, only a short time before - the island’s discovery.
But the real truth about Easter Island and its mysterious statues will probably never be known until someone finds out how to read the curious sign language inscribed round the platforms. These signs, which are geometrical in form, are really symbols such as birds, plants and fishes. They may be like the “memory aids” of the ancient Aztecs, but experts believe they are an elementary form of writing.
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