Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is often portrayed in popular culture as an enigma. The rationale is clear: The tiny, remote island in the Pacific features nearly 1,000 enormous statues – the moai .

The magnitude and number of these monuments defy easy explanation.

Since European ships first encountered these stone giants in the 18th century, outsiders have branded the island as fundamentally mysterious, possibly beyond archaeologists' ability to explain. This characteristic is part of what makes the island famous.

Tour operators market the inexplicable. Documentaries promise unsolved puzzles. Popular books ask how "primitive people" could possibly move 70-ton megaliths .

Archaeological researchers have put forward various explanations for the statues, which were made betwee

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