Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/03/06/a-truck-crashed-into-one-of-th.html
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Can’t replace the original. But how about a copy? Just in time:
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Heads will roll…
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Was a little shocked to see a photo of home in this thread!
Little known fact. It’s an encouraged tradition to take cans of paint and add your own touch to this particular art installation. We have a local artist who takes the (centimeters thick in some places) strata of spray paint and cuts it into a material he calls “cadillite” for jewelry and other stuff.
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I see no reason why this form can’t be called cadillite.
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Can we get a before pic of the site? I am not seeing what I would expect to see from a toppled stone head.
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The pic at the end of the article is the before pic. 
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That row of statues? Because I don’t believe that is the same location as the shot in the video.
I don’t dont see a giant head in the rubble, so I wondered if it was a smaller one. Maybe if they took out the truck and showed the stones it would make more sense to me. Like I could see a truck toppling the stones, I am just surprised if it made it crumble. Then again IIRC they are volcanic, so maybe its more brittle than I expect.
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Ok, so you want to see a group after shot. Working on it.
PS: There are hundreds of statues there, and not just the lined up group shot we’re all accustomed to. The one hit may have been a solitary one (judging by the empty areas to the side of the downed statue, but… still checking!
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The volcanic rock the moai were carved from is quite soft, many of the statues are disintegrating from the weather already.
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Eventually, that would leave only the buried statues’ bodies, better protected from the elements.
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i’m surprised that trucks are even allowed anywhere NEAR them.
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Right, I know there are many of them, and some in varying degrees of size and condition. In the video it doesn’t appear near others (or at least not super close). IIRC they are all looking out towards the sea, and the video looks near a cliff.
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Oh, those cat-loving ancient Egyptians!
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The second picture, showing the intact temple platform, seems to be from Ahu Tongariki (I thought at first it was Anekena, but I was wrong). The truck crash looks like it could be at Ahu Akahanga, but it could possibly be at another location in the north-east of the island whose name I don’t remember.
If I remember correctly, the best collections of moai are to be found at Anekena, Ranu Raraku and Ahu Tongariki, so I’m glad to see they were spared. And while I don’t condone driving trucks into precious historical artifacts, Easter Island has a lot of those things. It’s a shame that one was wrecked, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a Buddhas-of-Bamiyan-level cultural disaster.
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