On the south side of the Ana Kai Tangata, cave, before reaching the CONAF (National Forestry Corporation) site, there are remains of an ancient coastal ahu (sacred platform) that Sebastián Englert calls Ahu Renga Karo. Today it is completely destroyed. According to Alfredo Tuki Paté, former governor and current director of the National Monuments Council, this area was part of a settlement of the Haumoana clan, and until 1945, vestiges of Hare Paenga or Hare Vaka (boat houses) could still be seen, due to their inverted canoe shape. “This ahu once had a single moai, whose body would have been located in the CONAF area, but whose head was severed, and its whereabouts are now lost. Later, the site was used as a corral, both for pigs and for raising cattle.”
Anthropologist Lili Gonzalez from CONAF provides some information. She indicates that archaeologist Jo Anne van Tilburg, based on information obtained by Routledge in 1914 from a man named Langitopa, believed this Ahu marked a boundary between lands belonging to the Miru and Haumoana clans by means of a “center stone.” However, no stone of significant size or shape that could qualify as a “center stone” has been found on the platform, nor in the surrounding area.
According to Van Tilburg, this Ahu must have had two or three, or perhaps more, phases of construction. A long, semi-pyramidal, and almost perfectly shaped terrace parallel to the sea is envisioned, crowned by a wall of 10 to 12 stones, either uncut or with only superficially rounded pebbles. In front of the platform, there appears to have been a large stepped access point into which some tombs have been inserted. The presence of four statue fragments, located by Routledge, suggests that, in one of its underlying iterations, it was a platform with Moai. In front are two tombs, one of which is open. It would be necessary to check whether human remains were removed from the site to end up in a museum. It is very likely that the French crew of the “La Flore” (1872) removed dozens of human skulls from several Ahu near Hanga Roa, including this one.
Much of the island’s archaeological heritage is located along its coastline. The high density of existing archaeological structures is a result of pre-European settlements situated on the coast where marine resources and access to fresh water were paramount. The main coastal villages belonged to the elite and featured structures with high symbolic value. They were organized around an ahu or a group of ahu, or ceremonial platforms, which may or may not have contained moai. In front of the ahu, there was usually a large ceremonial esplanade, and beyond that, the residential structures were located.
During the 19th century, these villages were slowly abandoned due to a tragic population decline and the relocation of the few remaining inhabitants to what is now the town of Hanga Roa. Later, with the Williamson & Balfour sheep company leasing the island from the Chilean state between 1905 and 1953, the materials from the houses were reused for other purposes, primarily for dry-stone walls (pircas) used for livestock farming. Still later, when the island began to develop as a tourist destination, its infrastructure had to expand towards the coastal road, passing over a large part of these villages. Today, many villages are subject to the impacts of extensive livestock farming and damage caused by humans, as is the case with Ahu Renga Karo.
As a local resident, Alfredo Tuki shows us that in the area between Ana Kai Tangata and Ahu Renga Karo, some remains of tahetas, paengas, and boat-house foundations can still be found among the municipal children’s playground facilities. He tells us that: “Although the area is partially fenced off, some vehicles use this space as a passage to the massage parlor located on the northwest side of Ana Kai Tangata or to visit the edge of the cliff. To date, no researcher has been interested in carrying out the necessary studies to restore this settlement and its corresponding Ahu.”
