Erecting the statue was reached again by ropes and stones added under the sculpture lying more and more in a vertical position.
Beginning in about AD 1400 statue production slowed down and finally stopped, possibly because the wooden rollers and levers used too many trees, destroying the island’s small ecosystem. Now, another important question comes to mind – why did they build these statues? The most general explanation of building statues at all is in their symbolic meaning. Statues of this type are believed by most archaeologists to stand for something else, and that is to commemorate the spirits of ancestors, the tribal chiefs, or other high-ranking males who held important positions in the history of Easter Island.
After understanding the basic principles of the symbolic meaning of these statues, we can continue with the more structured and specified theories.
A bit more abstract justification of building the Easter Island Monuments can be found in Durkheim’s account on the origin of totemism (Durkheim, 1995). Totemism is a type of cult in which humans are believed to have a kinship with the totem (the sculpture, but also animal or plant). The totem, according to Durkheim, represents the believed supreme power of the tribe. In fact, this supreme power is nothing more than the social power over the individual member of the tribe itself.
Another approach can be found in the theory of the archaeologist Jo Anne Van Tilburg, who has studied the moai for many years. She also believes the statues may have been created in the image of various paramount chiefs. According to her, they were not individualized portrait sculptures, but standardized representations of powerful individuals. The moai may also have held a sacred role in the life of the Rapa Nui, acting as ceremonial conduits for communication with the gods. She emphasizes the spiritual position between earth and sky, which puts them on both secular and sacred ground; secular in their representation of chief and their ability to physically prop up the sky, and sacred in their proximity to the heavenly gods. Van Tilburg concludes, “The moai thus mediate between sky and earth, people and chiefs, and chiefs and gods.”
(“Secrets of Easter Island”, www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/easter/civilization/giants.html)
In addition, it is thought that the moais have been carved as monuments by competing clans (“Easter Island”, Britannica Student Encyclopedia). The clans wanted simply to express their superiority by building greater statues. This theory could explain the increase in number of moais constructed around AD 1400, as well as the enormous increase in their height and weight. As we can observe nowadays, Easter Island Monuments still remain a great attraction to both scientists and public.