Rapa Nui Landscapes of Construction Project Digital Archive
Aerial-Cam Ltd., Bournemouth University, Orkney College, University of the Highlands and Islands, University College London, 2023. https://doi.org/10.5284/1090477. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Aerial-Cam Ltd., Bournemouth University, Orkney College, University of the Highlands and Islands, University College London unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Primary contact
Dr
Kate
Welham
Department of Archaeology and Anthropology
Bournemouth University
Talbot Campus
Fern Barrow
Poole
BH12 5BB
UK
Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 4519
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1090477
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
The archaeology of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) is dominated by the large stone statues (moai) that date to c.1000-1600AD. The majority of moai are sculpted from volcanic tuff quarried from the inner and outer crater of Rano Raraku, an extinct volcano situated in the south-east of the island. Many of the moai once stood upon stone platforms (ahu), and in some cases their heads were adorned with cylinder-shaped topknots (pukao) produced from red scoria rock obtained from a separate quarry in the crater of Puna Pau.
This archive contains data collated by the Rapa Nui Landscapes of Construction Project (LOC) between 2008 and 2015. The research was primarily funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and was aimed at developing new interpretations of the organisation and meaning of the monumental construction activities on Rapa Nui.
The Project integrated five prospecting elements:
i) landscape Survey of ahu, statue roads and statue quarries including detailed topographic mapping;
ii) mapping of the audio-visual qualities of locations;
iii) geophysical prospecting to locate buried quarry workings and obscured statue transport roads and associated features;
iv) 3D recording of quarry surfaces; and v) excavation of quarry floors and spoil.
