<P> Almost all ( 95 % ) moai were carved from compressed , easily worked solidified volcanic ash or tuff found at a single site on the side of the extinct volcano Rano Raraku . The native islanders who carved them used only stone hand chisels , mainly basalt toki , which lie in place all over the quarry . The stone chisels were sharpened by chipping off a new edge when dulled . While sculpting was going on , the volcanic stone was splashed with water to soften it . While many teams worked on different statues at the same time , a single moai took a team of five or six men approximately a year to complete . Each statue represented the deceased head of a lineage . </P>
<P> Almost all ( 95 % ) moai were carved from compressed , easily worked solidified volcanic ash or tuff found at a single site on the side of the extinct volcano Rano Raraku . The native islanders who carved them used only stone hand chisels , mainly basalt toki , which lie in place all over the quarry . The stone chisels were sharpened by chipping off a new edge when dulled . While sculpting was going on , the volcanic stone was splashed with water to soften it . While many teams worked on different statues at the same time , a single moai took a team of five or six men approximately a year to complete . Each statue represented the deceased head of a lineage . </P>
where did the stones on easter island come from
where did the stones on easter island come from
from compressed , easily worked solidified volcanic ash or tuff found at a single site on the side of the extinct volcano Rano Raraku
from compressed , easily worked solidified volcanic ash or tuff found at a single site on the side of the extinct volcano Rano Raraku