📷 Diego Gonzalez · Pexels
Where in the world
Chile
Ahu Tongariki
Rapa Nui · Chile
Field notes
- civilizations
- Rapa NuiPolynesian
- types
- Sanctuary
- occupied
- 1,250 CE — 1,700 CE
- country
- Chile
The site
Ahu Tongariki is the largest ceremonial platform on Easter Island, raised by the Rapa Nui people. Fifteen moai stand upon it, including the heaviest ever erected on the island at eighty-six tonnes. Its statues were toppled during the island's civil wars and later swept inland by a tsunami before being restored; the moai here face the sunset at the winter solstice.
