Britannica
Sources used in this answer
Where were most of Easter Islandās middle-period moai carved?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Easter Island
Sculptures cut from volcanic rock, Easter Island.
Most of the middle-period moai on Easter Island were quarried from the yellow-gray tuff found in the crater walls of the volcano Rano Raraku.1
Inside and outside the crater bowl, numerous unfinished statues and stone tools remain, indicating that the sculptors' work was suddenly interrupted. Once the front and sides of a statue were polished, the back was detached from the bedrock, and the image was moved to the rubble below the quarries to have its back finished before being transported to a distant ahu.1