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For reasons still unknown, these early people, the Rapanui, began carving giant statues out of volcanic rock. These monuments, known, as "moai" are some of the most incredible ancient relics ever discovered. Where did the Rapanui come from? Why did they disappear? Science has unravelled much of the mystery of how the moai were transported and the statues erected but has made little headway in determining origin. Anthropologists have successfully refuted many of the bizarre theories surrounding the origins of settlement on Easter Island.
The Rapa Nui experience at the Navel of the World is similar in vein to that of the Guge Kingdom, which was founded somewhat earlier, also at the Navel of the Earth, or so we are led to believe. However this Navel was in the Ngari region of western Tibet. The Kingdom was founded by a descendant of King Lang Darm, who fled from Lhasa after the collapse of the Tubo Kingdom. Historians do know more about the origin of the people who made up the Guge Kingdom, which for a period of about 700 years held sway over the region and then vanished. They know more about Guge than anyone does about the origins of the Rapanui.
The Guge Kingdom contains three parallels to the Rapa Nui saga. Both cultures lasted for several hundred years. Both cultures disappeared without giving evidence of a well-defined departure or a reason for their demise. Both cultures lay at the Navel of their World. And one other thing, both cultures were imbued with ambition to create noticeable legacies in the form of outstanding artwork.
In Africa there have been similar mysteries, especially in the southern Sahara region now known as Mali. In Central America the origin and the demise of the Maya civilization is shrouded in mystery.
Of all these cultures, which mysteriously disappeared, the Rapa Nui environment, due to its extreme isolation, seems to offer the best hope for an eventual understanding as to what took place. The first thing we would like to know is what all people want to know about themselves. What is their origin? The second thing is to piece together the story of how the Rapa Nui people coped and what led to the disappearance of their culture.
Thor Heyerdahl, of Kon Tiki fame, suggested that the Rapa Nui people may have come from Peru. He based his conjecture on a comparison of the stonework that was
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