How old are the Easter Island Statues
So how old are the Easter Islands?Statues of Easter Island in danger -
Since 2006, the number of visitors has increased by 20% and in 2007 a number of 52,000 in all. The Moais ( "huge vulcanic statues of rocks") do not only eat out of the wind, swell, wind and moisture, but some of them are climbed or walked by visitors, which makes the decay even worse.
The Easter Island is a navel that is going through a touristic upsurge and some are concerned that the rush of outsiders could affect the things they want to see. "More intourism, more decay. The number of people visiting, the number of losses," said Susana Nahoe, an archeologist who two years ago acted as a link between Chile's National Travel Service and the island's academic world.
" "We' re now at the point where we either defend what we have or loose it," she said. The Moais ( "Moe-Eyes") already face a multitude of heroes. Sun, waves, wind and moisture eat away at their trains. The ahus, the ceramic platform of debris and stones on which they are sitting, is torn away by soil degradation and even gradually occupies the island's tendril.
Nearoe said that most travellers are concerned not to hurt Moais, but some unconsciously go or clamber on them, making aggravation. Other people intentionally disfigure them, among them a Finn visitor, who was fine $17,000 in March 2008 after chopping an earlobe off a sculpture. It'?s hard to say what you can do to better defend Moais.
So how were they towed all over the island? Settlement came from the Marquesas Islands in the northern part between 400 and 600. The company prospered until about 1680 and Moais were probably built in honour of chieftains. As the island' s inhabitants felled all the tree trunks, a war broke out that led to the cannibalisation and demolition of the Moai.
Twenty years later, when a two-mile airstrip was constructed as an alternative airstrip for the U.S. spacecraft, the tourist arrived en masse. 2 miles later. In the low seasons, from the end of March to July, the number of aircraft packaged per week falls to four, but the number of tourist arrivals has reached a new high. "Easter Island has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995, but civil servants trace its latest highlight back to last year's New Seven Miracles competition.
But Edmunds said public servants expected the overall figures for 2008 to be in line with those for 2007, driven by visitor praise. The new Explora, the island's first all-inclusive and environmentally sound resource, also contributes to this. There are 1,524 archeological monuments on the island, 887 of which are Moais, of which only about 50 have been mined.
The repair and placement of moais can cause them to worsen more quickly because they are more vulnerable than statues that stay face down or inhumed. He said that 54 species of mould are rejoicing in Moais and that "there really is nothing to shelter them. Nearoe said a 2003 UNESCO experience and Japanese specialists inject five Moai with a sealing that protects against moisture and weaving.
They both lamented that the fact that the island of Chile had to file a complaint aggravated conservation issues. "There is no sympathy for the screams of Rapa Nui to check what belongs to them," said Edmunds and referred to the island by her formal name, Rapa Nui. All is in Santiago, where so many have never been to the island."