Moai

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/moai

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. How tall is Moai?Approximately 4 meters (13 feet)
2. What is the location?Rapa Nui (Easter Island), a special territory of Chile in Polynesia
3. What is the period of creation?Approximately 1250 to 1500 AD
4. Why do moai have such big heads and no legs?The moai have big heads because the heads represent the living faces of deified ancestors. They don't have legs because the statues were meant to stand upright on platforms.
5. How did the Rapa Nui move and lift the huge moai?They used ropes made from plant fibers and wooden rollers or sleds. Some ideas say the statues were rocked forward in stages like walking.

Monolithic: Sculpted from a single, massive piece of stone, characteristic of the moai.
Ahu: Ceremonial stone platforms constructed by the Rapa Nui people to display the moai.
Volcanic Tuff: A lightweight, porous rock formed from volcanic ash, the primary material for moai carving.
Societal Collapse: A significant and often rapid decline in social and political complexity within a society.