Easter Island Statues Excavation

Archaeologists at Odds on Restoring Statues

Tongariki was the fame of Easter Island and its ancestors. It was Polynesia's biggest place of pilgrimage, with a view of a soft cove on the southern side of the island. There were 15 huge statues of stones, named mai, on its huge hut, or palace deck, some of which weighed up to 70tonnes.

Living near the village, they engraved ornate kerosene glyphs or rock engravings of huge tunas, marine tortoises and birdwatchers. Tongariki has experienced two disastrous incidents in the last 500 years. Warrior island clans overrun them in the later sixteenth centuary, overthrown the huge statues and broke off their head.

Then, in 1960, a flood crashed what was left, raised the mai and scattered it up to 300 ft from where they had been. It' like a cemetery of cairns. The majority of them are face down, in the shade of the Rano Raraku vulcano, from which all the island's mai have been made.

However, if it goes to a Japan-based cranes manufacturer, Tongariki will resurface with archaeologists from Chile and regain much of his fame. However, faithful to the story of the battle over the square, its destiny is tarnished by a fierce battle between archaeologists over controlling the site. From October last year, archaeologists began the first stages of the restoration of the whole complex, a blueprint that finally included the reconstruction of the hut, the repair of the mai and the use of preservatives from outer spaces to protect the rock from decay, to reposition the statues and to reconstruct much of the housing around Tongariki.

Analysts say it is perhaps the biggest retrieval scheme so far in Polynesia, ultimately requiring another $1. 5 million in funding. "Gonzalo Figueroa, one of the most famous Chilean agencies on the island, who first came here with Thor Heyerdahl on the Kon-Tiki in 1955, said: "Tongariki is the most important memorial to Polynesia.

"Not only Easter Island, but all Polynesia will be honored by the work. We' re supposed to dig and renovate at the highest technological standard. "The archaeologists' argument is about who is to lead the conservation work. Mr. Figueroa, one of the three principal advisors to the Chilean government for the excavation said that the principal excavation overseer should be an US archaeologist, Prof. William S. Ayres from the University of Oregon, who has considerable expertise on Easter Island and in Polynesia.

However, the idea of having an US management is rejected by the University of Chile's Division of Sociology, which has entrusted the management of the excavation to a Chilean archaeologist, Claudio Cristino, who works as the Easter Island Museum's head. To his defence, Mr Cristino argued that he has more island expertise than any other archaeologist who knows the island's native tongue and has carried out more comprehensive research than Professor Ayres.

Ayres retired from the research group. Chile University has chosen to sponsor PhD candidates in Archaeology to support Mr Cristino and has chosen Mario Orellana, President of the Faculty of Humanities, to supervise the work. There are fears that the squabbling could result in erroneous excavations and precious information about the site being lost, and that once the original funding of the scheme expires, it will be much more difficult to get extra for it.

The World Monuments Fund New York advisor Elena Charola, who has done a lot of work to protect the archaeological site of Easter Island, said: "Such a big venture requires a human crew, and if you don't have a crew, you have a big one.

" On the phone, Professor Ayres said: The excavation can only be carried out once. That' more complex than anything done in Polynesia and Hawaii. Theorizing that the new arrivals came from a more western Polynesia island after the populations became too large and struggles for resource and country controls erupted.

The Easter Island is the most eastern part of the Polish migratory movement. During much of its early days, civilisation blossomed as this island was initially rich in palm trees and woods. Islander worshippers believe that when a tribe chieftain dies, his spirit or inner strength, named Manuel, could be caught for the good of the fellowship by sculpting huge statues to house him.

Even though woodcarving began early, it peaked in the fourteenth and fifteenth century, and finally more than 1,000 statues were made. There was a sharp decline in the availability of fresh waters and fauna, which led the island' s inhabitants to take up the few natural habitats that remained. Finally, they counted on the use of cannibalism to meet much of their need for proteins, archaeologists say.

The people of the island overthrew the mai, and demolished the ahu all over the island. Though there are 300 ahu' s on Easter Island and several have been renovated, Tongariki is by far the most important, say archaeologists. The island' s inhabitants and researchers did not quickly decide to renovate the site. There was a predominant opposition to conservation, as it replicates the story at a certain point, a moment in time, while ignoring the remainder of the story.

Recent restorations are the result of a trip by a team from Japan to make a feature length video about the progressive degradation of the island's mai. Researchers guess that if the rocks are not preserved, degradation of the mountains along with tourists and acts of violence could press the mai beyond our comprehension within 200 years.

Tadano officers, the Japan firm, gave a grab to erect the statues in the hopes of decay. Because of its dimensions and the fact that it was irrecognizable destruction by the tidal wave, Tongariki was selected for the work. Tadano found out, however, that it wasn't just about raising the giant stones, but about a full overhaul.

An archaeological staff from Poland is working on treating the giant stones in order to slow their decay. A well-known archaeologist from Italy, Giuseppe Orefici has a crew that digs up areas near where the people of the island have dwell. Mr Cristino is digging ditches to create a landscape and will then begin the reconstruction of Mt. Ag.

Mr Cristino has an archaeological educated staff of about 10 islander. On the same date, Professor Orefici discovered the crueller side of Tongariki. An inscription on the cover of the Science Times last Tuesday about statues of stones on Easter Island has incorrectly identified the archaeological site. Ahu Akiva was being renovated, not Tongariki.