Tongariki - the largest, well-known, and probably the most often reproduced in photos and videos Ritual sites of Easter Island.
Most likely, you are familiar with this image: 15 stone idols are set in a row.
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| Tongariki Easter Island |
Tongariki is located in the eastern part of Easter Island, in Hutuichi Bay, near the Poike volcano.
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| Tongariki Easter Island |
Location of Ahu Tongariki
Tongariki is the largest ritual complex on Easter Island, its central part was almost 100 m in length. The average height of the walls facing the sea reached 4 m. The wall consisted of more than 800 basalt blocks of irregular shape, raw and roughly fitted to each other. On the pedestal-ahu, 15 (!) "Doldon" -moai of different types and heights are installed at once. The height of the statues ranges from 5.6 to 8.7 m.
The average weight of a Doldon on Ahu Tongariki is 40 tons, and the largest moai weighs 88 tons, it is the heaviest moai ever standing on the island.
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| Tongariki Easter Island |
The purpose of the ahu ritual sites is still controversial. Ahu are often called "burial grounds". Indeed, some (but by no means all) of the ahu have found human remains. Ahu-Tongariki is no exception. The wall of ahu was eroded by a giant tsunami wave of the devastating earthquake in Chile in 1960. This allowed researchers to find in the center a narrow corridor filled with human remains. However, it is obvious that the function of the burial ground is not the only one, and not even the main one for ahu. By the way, the remains of those who died on Easter Island were more often cremated than buried. The researchers also note that many ahu were not erected at the same time, but were repeatedly completed, changed and expanded.
Tongariki was the cultural center of the settlement Hotu Iti (Hotu Iti).
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| Tongariki Easter Island |
Moai were brought here from the Rano Raraku quarries.
All the statues of Ahu-Tongariki were overthrown from the ahu pedestal during inter-clan wars.
Ahu Tongariki was partially rebuilt in the 1990s. during a 5-year archaeological project.