New Study Finds Easter Island’s Moai Were Made by Independent Family Workshops, Not a Central Authority

Independent Workshops Shaped Easter Island’s Iconic Moai

New research suggests the famous Moai statues of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) were carved and transported by multiple independent groups — likely family-based workshops — rather than by a single, centralized authority. The study combines high-resolution drone imagery and spatial analysis to re-evaluate how more than 1,000 monolithic figures were produced and moved across the island.

Methods: Drone Imagery and 3D Mapping

Researchers compiled roughly 11,000 drone photographs to build a detailed 3D model of Rano Raraku, the island’s main Moai quarry. Hundreds of statues remain in the crater at various stages of completion, providing a rare opportunity to study carving techniques and production patterns in situ.

Key Findings

The analysis identified approximately 30 distinct quarrying centres within Rano Raraku. Each focus shows duplicated or redundant production features and a range of carving methods, indicating multiple, simultaneous workshops rather than a single, standardized production line.

“Our analysis reveals 30 distinct quarrying foci distributed across the crater, each containing redundant production features and employing varied carving techniques,” the authors write in PLOS One.

Researchers also documented evidence that carved figures left the quarry along many different routes, suggesting that both carving and transport were organized by separate groups. This spatial organization — with natural boundaries constraining workshops — mirrors previous archaeological evidence that Rapa Nui society was organized into small, autonomous family groups or clans.

“This spatial organisation, combined with evidence for multiple simultaneous workshops constrained by natural boundaries, indicates that Moai production followed the same decentralised, clan-based pattern documented for other aspects of Rapa Nui society,” the study concludes.

Implications

These findings challenge the long-standing assumption that constructing large monuments requires hierarchical, top-down control. Instead, the Moai appear to be the product of complex cooperative behaviours: neighbouring family groups sharing techniques, competing, and coordinating transport and erection efforts without centralized oversight. The study highlights how large-scale cultural achievements can emerge from decentralized social systems through information sharing and local collaboration.

Context: The Moai — typically about 4 m tall — were carved by the island’s Polynesian inhabitants between roughly 1250 and 1500 AD. Most were quarried at Rano Raraku and later moved to ceremonial stone platforms (ahu) around the island.

Study published in PLOS One.