Four moai are topped with red scoria topknots (pukao), symbolizing high status and power. To the right of Ahu Nau Nau is Ahu Ature Huki, which consists of a single moai sculpture. Ahu Ature Huki ...

Next to the ahu lies a one ton pukao, or top knot, a sort of hat that will be placed on the head of the moai. The challenge is to get the statue there, raise it, and put the pukao on its head ...

At Anakena seven potbellied moai stand at attention on a 52-foot-long stone platform—backs to the Pacific, arms at their sides, heads capped with tall pukao of red scoria, another volcanic rock.

The islanders call them "moai," and they have puzzled ethnographers, archaeologists, and visitors to the island since the first European explorers arrived here in 1722. In their isolation ...