Newly Unearthed Documents Propose That the Easter Island Head Was Not Stolen

Newly Unearthed Documents Propose That the Easter Island Head Was Not Stolen

A British archaeologist has proposed a revised account of the excavation of Hoa Hakananaiʻa, the moai better known as the Easter Island Head, arguing that its removal was not a unilateral act of imperial extraction but a collaborative effort between British explorers and Indigenous Rapa Nui islanders that ultimately led to its voyage to England. Hoa Hakananaiʻa was one of roughly 1,000 basalt statues scattered across Easter Island, a subtropic…