INTRODUCTION ENCOUNTERING A MYSTERY On Easter in 1722 a fleet of three Dutch ships was exploring the southeastern Pacific Ocean The fleet's commander Jacob Roggeveen was searching for an undiscovered continent that the Dutch thought might exist in the area Instead Roggeveen and his men spotted a small island Roggeveen named it Island Easter
As the Dutch ships drew closer to the island the sailors noticed smoke rising into the air The smoke signaled that people were living there But the island itself looked empty with dry grass and few trees When Roggeveen and his men came ashore they met a community of perhaps two thousand people They also saw something that struck them with awe hundreds of giant statues stone
THE STATUES OF EASTER ISLAND The statues had enormous heads with large noses staring eyes and wide mouths Many of the statues stood side by side along the island's coast Their backs were to the sea and their faces looked in toward the middle of the island A group of statues stands side by side along the coast of Island Easter
Roggeveen and one of his men look at a statue after landing on Easter Island in this twentieth century illustration Roggeveen and his men had many questions How had the islanders carved such enormous statues without metal tools And how had they moved the giant stone carvings around the island The islanders had few firm answers Most stories about the statues had been lost or forgotten The statues of Easter Island were one of the world's great mysteries unsolved
