The statues are dotted across the island, but how did they get there? (Picture: Getty) For 900 years, the mystery of how the famous Easter Island stone figures ended up where they are has baffled ...

Despite standing in one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth, the iconic moai of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) can now be experienced from the comfort of your home. This is thanks to a new, ...

Carl Lipo receives funding from the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society. Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is often portrayed in popular culture as an enigma. The ...

Scholars have long debated how the massive stone figures of Rapa Nui got to where they stand today. A new study offers one possible explanation. The Rapa Nui moai, the monolithic stone figures of ...

Researchers used drone imagery to construct a 3D model of Rapa Nui's main moai quarry and reveal its secrets. Reading time 2 minutes The island of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is famous for ...

Archaeologists say a 3D model of a centuries-old quarry of unfinished stone head statues on Easter Island offers new clues about how these monuments were made and the Polynesian society that brought ...

Rapa Nui today inaugurated the Rapa Nui Heritage Summit 2025, an international gathering which, from 24 to 26 November 2025, brings to the island Indigenous leaders, national authorities, heritage ...

When Polynesian explorers landed on Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, around 1200 C.E., they found nearly 20 million palm trees; by the time Dutch explorers arrived in 1722, they found only ...

Dr. Lipo explained why the Rapa Nui palms were especially susceptible to rat predation: "Palm nuts were highly vulnerable for several reasons. Jubaea chilensis, the palm species on Rapa Nui, produces ...

A new study led by researchers at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory offers the clearest evidence yet that a centuries-long drought transformed life on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) beginning around the ...