First-of-its-kind 3D model lets you explore Easter Island statues up close

Located in the middle of the South Pacific, thousands of miles from the nearest continent, Easter Island (Rapa Nui) is one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth. To visit it and marvel at the quarries where its iconic moai statues were created is a luxury few get to experience – until now.

You can now explore Rano Raraku, one of the major quarries on Easter Island, from the comfort of your home. A research team including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York has created the first-ever high-resolution 3D model of the quarry, providing people worldwide with a glimpse of the island, including almost 1,000 of its iconic moai statues.

“As an archeologist, the quarry is like the archeological Disneyland,” said Binghamton University Professor of Anthropology Carl Lipo and lead author of a new paper in PLOS One. “It has everything you can possibly imagine about moai construction, because that's where they did most of the construction. It’s always been this treasure of information and cultural heritage, but it's remarkably underdocumented.”

The new model allows visitors to zoom in and pan across various features of the quarry, both high and low, offering views that you wouldn’t be able to see even if you did make your way to Rapa Nui. The quarry itself is located in a volcanic crater that is too steep and rugged to safely traverse. 

“You can see things that you couldn't actually see on the ground. You can see tops and sides and all kinds of areas that just would never be able to walk to,” said Lipo.

Lipo said that the 3D model opens the door for things that were never possible: 1) it provides researchers with a three-dimensional replica that they can study and 2) it allows everyone to experience the island. 

“We can say, 'Here, go look at it.’ If you want to see the different kinds of carving, fly around and see stuff there. So it's really exciting to bring these two things together. We're documenting something that really has needed to be documented, but in a way that's really comprehensive and shareable.”

Mapping the island

In October 2023, a wildfire swept through the quarry, raising concerns about the site's future. When Lipo and his team arrived to conduct research in January 2024, a community group on the island asked if the researchers could document the quarry in the event that it was permanently damaged.  

The researchers, who also included Thomas Pingel and Kevin Heard from Binghamton’s Geography Department, leapt at the opportunity. They conducted around 30 drone flights, snapping 22,000 photos of the quarry at 30-meter increments. Using computer software, the images were stitched together into the resulting 3D model, a process that took months. 

"It’s amazing how far and how fast the technology has come,” said Pingel. “The quality of this model is far above what could be done even just a couple of years ago, and the ability to share such a detailed model in a way that is accessible from anyone’s desktop computer is remarkable."

“The project was of a scale of complexity that had never been attempted before,” said Lipo.

Putting the map to use

Using the new 3D model, the researchers examined the sites of 30 different “workshops” in the quarry. Examining the patterning of the quarrying, where carving techniques differed from site to site, the researchers found it aligned with previous evidence – that the island consisted of multiple independent groups working simultaneously rather than being managed by a centralized "chiefdom.”

“We see separate workshops that really align to different clan groups that are working intensively in their specific areas,” said Lipo. “You can really see graphically from the construction that there's a series of statues being made here, another series of statues here and that they're lined up next to each other. It's different workshops.” 

While this theory isn’t necessarily brand new, Lipo said that it’s nice to see the evidence baked into the quarry itself.

“When we look at the ability for people to move giant statues, it doesn't take that many people to do it, so that it really connects all the dots between the number of people it takes to move the statues, the number of places, the scale at which the quarrying is happening and then the scale of the communities,” said Lipo.

Going forward, the researchers will utilize the 3D model for further analysis of the quarry. Lipo also hopes that people will use the model, from researchers to laypeople alike.

“What we would really like to do is be able to say, ‘Go visit it yourself. Learn from it.’ People on the island are afraid that if we build three-dimensional models that no one will go to the island. But I think this actually will inspire people to go there. Because otherwise, you're just seeing sort of snapshots of stuff. This is an incredible landscape of stuff that you could really go visit, that you'll want to see.”

The 3D model is available to view online.

The paper, “Megalithic statue (moai) production on Rapa Nui (Easter Island, Chile),” will be published in PLOS One on Nov. 26.

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