‘Moai designs are getting lost’: extreme weather chips away at Easter Island statues

Unesco conservators assess damage to moai burned by a huge wildfire that swept across Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, in 2022 after historic levels of drought. Photograph: Unesco

The Ahu Tahai moai, on the east side of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is an impressive 4.5 metres high. Carved from a soft volcanic rock, the statue looks out solemnly over the island, with its back to the bay.

The Tahai (“where the sun sets”) and the island’s other thousand or so moai were erected roughly between 1100 and 1700 as a representation of Rapa Nui’s ancestors.