We are still at Rano Raraku, the ancient volcano. These photos are to show you some of the statue carving process or technique. All three pictures show the same statue that was in the process of being carved when the whole statue-carving process stopped. This statue is today called “El Gigante”. It was never finished but is almost 72 feet high and estimated to have weighed between 145 and 165 tons.

Can you find El Gigante in the first photo? (This is one of Vicky’s photos – and she still likes playing “Where’s Waldo”)

I moved around the hill for the next photo and moved even closer for the third photo. They carved the statues in place right out of the rock. At some point, they got all the way around them and then they moved them out and finished the back side and delivered and erected them.

It's hard to see with the shadow, but on the right side, they had carved down to a depth of about five feet or more. Eventually, the statue would be free of the hillside and they would lift it out and finish it.