Rapa Nui

An enormous petrified sponge

Under a thin layer of soil over the ancient volcanic rocks lies an invisible world, cloaked in legends and mysteries. Rapa Nui has a volcanic bedrock which can be compared to a giant petrified sponge, riddled with caverns of varying sizes, from small grottoes and narrow winding passages to spacious vaulted chambers. A Polish speleological expedition has registered more than ten kilometers (six miles) of underground passages and explored more than 315 caves in the Roiho area and in the cliffs of the Rano Kau and Rano Raraku volcanoes, making topographic maps combined with archaeological and anthropological studies of their contents. W. H. Thomson (1886) divided the caves of Rapa Nui into two groupings, those grottoes formed by the action of the waves on the coast and the caves formed by volcanic gases and lava.

For the Rapanui, there are three principal types of caves according to their structure : Karava, Ana Kionga and Ana. The Karava caves are small grottoes, usually found on the cliff sides in which one person could hide. The Ana Kionga caves are small ones which were used as safe havens for persecuted people in times of war. The name Ana is applied to all natural caverns of large dimensions, including those which have been built or reconstructed, regardless of their use.

[bsa_pro_ad_space id=3]

[bsa_pro_ad_space id=2]

From the arrival of the first inhabitants of the island, the caves began to form an essential part of the social, spiritual and daily life. Oral tradition reveals that in order to enter a cave it is necessary to ask for protection from the spirits, because the caves are as sacred as the earth and are “Tapu” or taboo. In many caves, petroglyphs and pictographs of the god Make Make, the bird-man and other ancient cosmic figures can be discerned. Some served as residences, such as the Ana Kena cave, where the legendary king Hotu Matu’a lived during his first years on the Island, and which has since given its name to the Anakena beach, originally called Oromanga. The Rapanui tell us that each cave had its own name, sometimes related to the name of the original inhabitants or their clan, other times due to some characteristic of place, form, size or use.

The caves served not only as living spaces or refuges for people or even complete families, but also to keep maidens where they could whiten their skin for spiritual purposes (Ana O Keke and Ana Hue Neru), to hold religious rites (Ana Kai Tangata and Ana Te Pora) or to store food and family treasures. According to Lavancherie (1935) there used to be “workshop” caves in which bone and obsidian objects were manufactured. Some caves served as collective tombs, while others were set aside as individual burials, where the old people could go when it was their time to die. Only a few years ago, this happened for the last time. The family searched for their missing grandmother for more than a month without finding a trace of her. She had gone to her rest.

[bsa_pro_ad_space id=1]

Featured Reports:

Archaeologists’ Tales

by moeVarua | Archeology

Archaeology is the branch of anthropology that aims to reconstruct the history of humanity from its material remains. The problem is that a very important part of human creation is not expressed in material form, and, on the other hand, many times it is not possible...

Rano Raraku, New excavations in Easter Island’s Moai quarry

by moeVarua | Archeology, Archeology

The new excavations carried out in Rano Raraku, the moais quarry, leave us an enormous archaeological wealth and vestiges on the Rapa Nui culture.

Ana Hue Neru

by moeVarua | Archeology, Rapa Nui Culture

Ana Hue NeruThe Caverns to whiten the YoungLas Cavernas para blanquear a Jóvenes As far back as the late 19th Century, various expeditions have attempted to unravel the mysteries of the Rapanui culture through archaeological research and the oral traditions of the...