Ahu Tongariki

Ahu Tongariki is the largest Ahu on Rapa Nui/Easter Island (a Chilean island in the Pacific). Its Moai were toppled during the island's civil wars and in the twentieth century the Ahu was swept inland by a tidal wave. It has since been restored and has 15 Moai including an 86 tonne moai that was the heaviest ever erected on the island. Ahu Tongariki is close to Rano Raraku and Poike in the Rapa Nui National Park.

Ahu Tongariki was substantially restored in the 1990s by a multidisciplinary team headed by archaeologists Claudio Cristino (Director) and Patricia Vargas (Co-director executive team), in a five years project carried out under an official agreement of the Chilean Government with Tadano Lt. and the University of Chile.

"Ahu Tongariki" was the main centre and capital of the Hotu Iti the eastern confederation of the Rapanui. [ Fischer 2005 Island at the end of the world ISBN 1-86189-282-9]

References

* Katherine Routledge (1919) "The Mystery of Easter Island" ISBN 0-932813-48-8

External links

* [http://revistaurbanismo.uchile.cl/n5/cristino.html| Ahu Tongariki Restoration project]
* [http://www.netaxs.com/~trance/rapanui.html Unofficial Easter Island Homepage]
* [http://www.eisp.org/ Easter Island Statue project]
* [http://www.tegakinet.jp/moai.htm How to make Walking Moai: a hypothesis about how Moai were transported]
* [http://www.radio.cz/en/article/35755 Czech who made Moai statues walk returns to Easter Island ]
* [http://www.lost-civilizations.net/easter-island-stones-history.html History of Easter Island stones]
* [http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/easter/statue-scale.php Easter Island - Moai Statue Scale]
* [http://www.isladepascua.uchile.cl| University of Chile]