How did Easter Island’s famed moai statues get to where they are? It’s a question that has long fascinated historians, archaeologists, anthropologists and tourists alike. Now, a team of researchers at ...

For generations, the massive moai of Easter Island, called Rapa Nui by the locals, have stood in quiet testimony to one of archaeology’s longest-standing mysteries. How did an island society, remote ...

Explorers have long known there was more to the 887 statues on Easter Island—some 2,000 miles west of Chile—than just the statue heads made famous in photographs. When most people think of the ...

Easter Island statues, traditionally known as moai on the remote island of Rapa Nui in the South Pacific, are some of the most impressive artifacts of ancient Polynesian civilization. How the statues ...

In a surprising turn of events, a new moai statue has been discovered on Easter Island in 2025, challenging previous ...

Scientists believe the statues may have "walked" Toria Sheffield joined the PEOPLE editorial staff in 2024. Her work as a writer/editor has previously appeared in places like Bustle, LAMag, and ...

When the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen landed on Easter Island in 1722, he was puzzled by how the indigenous islanders could have transported the hundreds of colossal stone statues he found studding ...

For centuries, Easter Island’s famous moai statues have stood guard over the remote volcanic island in the South Pacific, withstanding sun, wind, rain, lichen and even fire. But in the coming decades, ...