Searching through my Kodachromes for pictures to illustrate the British Archaeology feature I wrote about earlier today, took me back nearly 20 years – I was on Rapa Nui in 1994. Here are some that didn’t make it into the magazine. There were then, it seemed, few tourists on the island, but there was more than enough going on: the huge reconstruction job of re-erecting all the statues on a rebuilt platform at Tongariki was underway, what was then a biannual arts festival (Rapa Nui Tapati) happened while I was there, and I was lucky enough to meet Georgia Lee on a visit of her own. And the weather and light were terrific.
Wow, I never seen them up this close before. It is like going back in time. I didn’t know they were so big.
Amazing photos, I’ve never seen them this detailed or close up before! I was surprised by their size as well. Your photo of the one statue lying on its back covered in a tent structure (?) was really good at capturing their size. And your photo of the statues with their hats clearly displayed really shows how heavy the top stone would have been to put into place. Thanks so much!