The Easter Island heads are known as Moai by the Rapa Nui people who carved the figures in the tropical South Pacific directly west of Chile. The Moai monoliths, carved from stone found on the island, are between 1,100 and 1,500 CE.

The Kwakiutl mask called Crooked Beak: is one of four monstrous beings who eat human flesh. both embody ideas about the order of society and the protective powers of the gods.

Mesoamerican culture

Almost all moʻai have overly large heads three-eighths the size of the whole statue. The moʻai are chiefly the living faces (aringa ora) of deified ancestors (aringa ora ata tepuna).

Paro

moai

A series of devastating events killed almost the entire population of Easter Island in the 1860s. Such devastating events that contributed to the downfall and collapse of the Easter Island society can be attributed to the rapid deforestation during the time of moai-construction.

Jacob Roggeveen

It is generally agreed that Rapa Nui, once covered in large palm trees, was rapidly deforested soon after its initial colonization around A.D. 1200. Although microbotanical evidence, such as pollen analysis, suggests the palm forest disappeared quickly, the human population may only have been partially to blame.

About 5,000 people live on Easter Island today, and thousands of tourists come to see the anthropomorphic “moai” statues each year.

HANGA ROA, Chile (Reuters) – On one of the world’s most remote outposts, Easter Island, inhabitants are adamant the giant stone statues that dominate their landscape should be recognised as one of the new seven wonders of the world. Chile annexed the island in 1888 and has governed it since.

UNESCO has described Petra as “one of the most precious cultural properties of man’s cultural heritage”. In 2007, Al-Khazneh was voted one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. Petra is a symbol of Jordan, as well as Jordan’s most-visited tourist attraction….Petra.

Nabateans

The “Lost City” still has secrets to reveal: Thousands of years ago, the now-abandoned city of Petra was thriving. Carved directly into vibrant red, white, pink, and sandstone cliff faces, the prehistoric Jordanian city of Petra was “lost” to the Western world for hundreds of years.

The site is considered significant by historians and archeologists alike because of its beautiful rock-cut architecture and innovative water management system, the latter of which made the region inhabitable, given that it is surrounded by desert and rugged, mountainous terrain.

The Greek name Petra (“Rock”) probably replaced the biblical name Sela. Remains from the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods have been discovered at Petra, and Edomites are known to have occupied the area about 1200 bce. Centuries later the Nabataeans, an Arab tribe, occupied it and made it the capital of their kingdom.