A new study published November 26, 2025 in the open-access journal PLOS One reports that the well-known stone figures of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) were created by many separate carving groups. The research team, led by Carl Philipp Lipo of Binghamton University, New York and colleagues, examined how these communities contributed to the making of the island's famous monuments.
Rapa Nui is widely recognized for its hundreds of stone statues (moai), crafted by Polynesian settlers beginning in the 13th century. Archaeological work has repeatedly shown that the island was home to many small family groups rather than a unified political system. This background has prompted researchers to explore whether the carving of moai followed the same decentralized structure.
High-Resolution 3D Modeling Reveals 30 Quarry Work Zones
For this study, scientists gathered more than 11,000 photographs of Rano Raraku, the primary moai quarry. These images were merged into a detailed 3D reconstruction that captured hundreds of moai preserved in different stages of production. After analyzing the model, the team identified 30 distinct quarrying areas, each showing unique carving approaches. Additional clues indicate that completed or partially shaped moai were moved away from the quarry along several different paths. Taken together, these patterns suggest that statue creation reflected the island's broader social organization, with carving efforts carried out independently rather than through centralized oversight.
New Evidence Challenges Long-Held Assumptions
The findings call into question the idea that projects of this scale require strict hierarchy or a single coordinating authority. Similarities between moai appear to come from the sharing of cultural knowledge instead of coordinated, joint labor. The new quarry model also provides a valuable dataset that can support future investigations and guide cultural management at this UNESCO World Heritage site. The same methods used here can also be applied to study other archaeological locations.
The authors explain: "Much of the so-called "mystery" of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) comes from the lack of openly available, detailed evidence that would allow researchers to evaluate hypotheses and construct explanations. Here, we present the first high-resolution 3D model of the moai quarry at Rano Raraku, the central quarry for nearly 1,000 statues, offering new insights into the organizational and manufacturing processes of these giant megalithic figures."
Fieldwork for this research was supported by a National Science Foundation grant (Award #2218602). The funders had no involvement in study design, data collection and analysis, decisions related to publication, or manuscript preparation.