Wow!! That's really amazing! Wouldn't have expected that those are full body statues. They always seemed to look like busts.

But also the detailing is interesting. This loin cloth look a bit like these that sumo ringers wear. And some parts appear to look like some sort of tattoos.

Very interesting. Thanks a lot for posting this news.

Sara

curiouser and curiouser... :D

This was new to me as well when I first saw it, and I agree that the pictures are very cool, and I hate to rain on anybody's parade -- but this has actually been known for many years, and there are actually quite a few statues that have had bodies above ground since time immemorial. See http://www.snopes.com/photos/arts/easterisland.asp for some background info.

I'm stunned. So much work has been done on the island, so much has been written about the island and the statues...Why did no one think to dig down a bit just to see how the head was held up all these years? Thank you once again, James, for such an interesting blog.

I'm stunned. So much work has been done on the island, so much has been written about the island and the statues...Why did no one think to dig down a bit just to see how the head was held up all these years? Thank you once again, James, for such an interesting blog.

This is not news! They did "do this before"! People have been digging up the buried bodies of Easter Island statues since at least early last century (follow the link in this article and read about it). Several have been fully excavated over the decades and returned to the positions they occupied when they were first carved and erected centuries ago. The ones most often photographed however have been the buried ones, because they are still the most numerous and because they look the most mysterious and impressive presumably.

David and Ernest, you're right that it's not news that the Easter Island statues had bodies -- the Easter Island Statue Project outlines the long history of previous excavations and revelations. But according to the EISP site, the current digs reveal new insights about Rapa Nui engineering. I share Sarah and Jill's sense of amazement just to see the costume details and the forms of those statues that were hidden from modern eyes until now.

It would have been funny if when they got to the bottom they discovered they were wearing roller skates.

Um... this is not news. The "heads" are the photos of the works-in-progress left buried on the slopes of the stone quarry; the statues that had been installed in the intended locations are all full-bodied.

Although the buried ones at the quarry have had their underground parts protected from erosion, and much less weathered than the exposed rock. So archeologists have been digging them up to research what the finish was like, the finer carving details, etc. They've been doing this on and off for decades.

Eugene, this is not a news blog. I just post stuff I find interesting. Some of it is news to me. There's a huge amount of information that I don't know yet.

Wasn't my intention to burst anyone's joy of new knowledge. :)

I really recommend Thor Heyerdahl's book about his first expedition to Rapanui. Heyerdahl being Heyerdahl, he could not stick just to proper archeology and got into spelunking and impressing the locals into showing him rather unexpected collections of old ritual artwork.