PUKAO
First stop today was the pukao quarry.
Pukao isn't a 'where' its a 'what'. You might even call it a top whot as
it is the red cylindrical top knot that you see on some moai.
True to form, the Rapa Nui chose to use stone from a quarry kilometers away from the coast where nearly all the ahu and moai are.
At least they made them in a cylindrical shape so they would roll.
Longest trip, about 12 km.
True to form, the Rapa Nui chose to use stone from a quarry kilometers away from the coast where nearly all the ahu and moai are.
At least they made them in a cylindrical shape so they would roll.
Longest trip, about 12 km.
This is the quarry they came from. It is the only outcrop on the island of the red stone used for the making of pukao.
Some pukao, of course, didn't make it as top knots. The British (yes, we were there, poking our Imperialist noses in), who introduced sheep to the island, hollowed out some of the cylinders to use as water troughs.
One hopes they hollowed out loads of them before they found out the rock was porous!
The view from the quarry?
Tell me that doesn't look like the Long Mynd?
Tell me that doesn't look like the Long Mynd?
Not surprising really as they are both igneous and/or volcanic.
In fact, Rapa Nui was originally three small islands which were joined up over 10 million years and 3 million years ago by two humungous volcanic eruptions to make one bigger island.
In fact, Rapa Nui was originally three small islands which were joined up over 10 million years and 3 million years ago by two humungous volcanic eruptions to make one bigger island.
ORONGO
Orongo is aa recontructed village right on the coast. No 'aa' isn't a Rapa Nui name. It's a typo error. As may be 'Orongo'. You may never know. This is the village associated with the Birdman ritual. It is backed by a mile wide crater.
What used to be in the crater is now all over the island. This was one of the volcanoes that erupted made three little islands into one.
After the eruption, the crater filled with fresh water and is fed from underground springs.
So the Orongo residents, in effect, controlled a lot of the fresh water supply for the island.
The fruit and vegetables that still grow on the crater slopes were another bonus as were the reed that grows on the water surface. The reed is used for boats, ropes, thatch etc.
Add the fish from the Orongo coastline and the Orongans were well minted.
After the eruption, the crater filled with fresh water and is fed from underground springs.
So the Orongo residents, in effect, controlled a lot of the fresh water supply for the island.
The fruit and vegetables that still grow on the crater slopes were another bonus as were the reed that grows on the water surface. The reed is used for boats, ropes, thatch etc.
Add the fish from the Orongo coastline and the Orongans were well minted.
Their houses are pretty solid, about 5 feet high with walls about 3 feet thick. No windows so it must have been pretty dark as well.
The doors are titchy as were the Orongans. You enter on your hands and knees. If an unwelcome visitor tried to sneak in, he got his head stove in when it popped out of the tunnel on the inside.
On the other hand, sneaking out for a night time pee could also prove fatal.
On the other hand, sneaking out for a night time pee could also prove fatal.
All the Rapa Nui were tetchy and scraps were common ranging in scale from 'Neighbours from Hell' to 'All Island Punch Ups'.
So you had secret caves to hide in and defensible houses.
So you had secret caves to hide in and defensible houses.
THE BIRD MAN RITUAL
Orongo was also the place that the Bird Men went through their paces.
After decades of slaughtering each other to establish supremacy and establish the right to have 
your own 'Jack The Lad' as king, a more democratic, less brutal method of choosing a king was dreamed up.
See the two islands. In Rapa Nui, they are called the 'Big Island' and the 'Small Island'.
The rock pinnacle has a name too.
Probably 'The Rock Pinnacle by the Big and Small Islands' or, just possibly, 'Thor Heyerdahls Willy', but that would be too much to hope for and probably historically impossible..
Anyway, each candidate for King nominated a champion to do all the hard work for him. Big Eared Princes do much the same these days.
At a given signal, all the champs climbed down the cliff, dived into the water, swam the mile or so through shark infested waters to the Big Island and then....... and then.......
Hid in a cave!
No, the last one to be found by 'It' didn't win.
They hid until the frigate birds arrived to breed, as they did every spring, around October.
So swimming to the island in May, to beat the rush, wasn't such a good idea.
When the birds had laid their eggs, it was time for action as the sponsor of the first champion to get back to the mainland with an unbroken egg became King of the island for a year.
Having got your egg and avoided being clobbered by the other competitors, how to get it back home in one piece?
Easy. Tie it to your forehead with a bandanna, swim another mile back through shark infested waters, climb a v high cliff and be first.
(Sorry this is all text but all the Flintstone type newspapers of the time have been lost).
Or maybe not so easy. Bearing in mind that any of the other competitors would smash your egg, or your head, as soon as look at you if you were in the lead, the sharks were always in nut nipping mood and were most unlikely to settle for salty broken eggs and you may well have to climb the cliff being pelted with unspeakables from rival tribes above, success was by no means assured.
Sod you and your egg I would say.
Assuming, though, that some champ had the luck to get to the egg cup first with his egg unscrambled, his sponsor then set off round the island shouting
'I Am The King, I Am The King,
EE Eye Addio,
I Am The King'
Or something similar. Just so nobody missed it
And promptly milked his kingly privileges like hell for a year.
Here Endeth Part The First.
Tune in again tomorrow, unless, of course, you have something better to do.
BJ
Orongo was also the place that the Bird Men went through their paces.
After decades of slaughtering each other to establish supremacy and establish the right to have
See the two islands. In Rapa Nui, they are called the 'Big Island' and the 'Small Island'.
The rock pinnacle has a name too.
Probably 'The Rock Pinnacle by the Big and Small Islands' or, just possibly, 'Thor Heyerdahls Willy', but that would be too much to hope for and probably historically impossible..
Anyway, each candidate for King nominated a champion to do all the hard work for him. Big Eared Princes do much the same these days.
At a given signal, all the champs climbed down the cliff, dived into the water, swam the mile or so through shark infested waters to the Big Island and then....... and then.......
Hid in a cave!
No, the last one to be found by 'It' didn't win.
They hid until the frigate birds arrived to breed, as they did every spring, around October.
So swimming to the island in May, to beat the rush, wasn't such a good idea.
When the birds had laid their eggs, it was time for action as the sponsor of the first champion to get back to the mainland with an unbroken egg became King of the island for a year.
Having got your egg and avoided being clobbered by the other competitors, how to get it back home in one piece?
Easy. Tie it to your forehead with a bandanna, swim another mile back through shark infested waters, climb a v high cliff and be first.
(Sorry this is all text but all the Flintstone type newspapers of the time have been lost).
Or maybe not so easy. Bearing in mind that any of the other competitors would smash your egg, or your head, as soon as look at you if you were in the lead, the sharks were always in nut nipping mood and were most unlikely to settle for salty broken eggs and you may well have to climb the cliff being pelted with unspeakables from rival tribes above, success was by no means assured.
Sod you and your egg I would say.
Assuming, though, that some champ had the luck to get to the egg cup first with his egg unscrambled, his sponsor then set off round the island shouting
'I Am The King, I Am The King,
EE Eye Addio,
I Am The King'
Or something similar. Just so nobody missed it
And promptly milked his kingly privileges like hell for a year.
Here Endeth Part The First.
Tune in again tomorrow, unless, of course, you have something better to do.
BJ
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