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RESTORING COLOUR TO THE

SACRED CULT

OF EASTER ISLAND

Early

visitors to

Easter

Island recorded strange designs of mysterious being. Now using

the latest technology and ancient records Paul Horley

Georgia

Lee and Paul Bahn

have

restored

glorious colour

to the

sacred site

o f

Orongo home

o f the mystical birdman.

T

he

f irst

Europeans reached

t h e shores of

Easter

island,

Rapa Nu i , in 1722 - o n

Easter

Sunday,

t h u s gi v i n g t h e

remote island its distinctive

n a m e .

Just

a century later, the society that

p ro d u c e d t h e famous moai, recognisable

th e

w o r l d over, was in serious decline.

Overpopulation and overuse of natural

resources reached crisis po in t , and the

islanders descended i n t o t r i b a l c o n f l i c t .

\Varfare drastically changed the social

order:

the king s power was diminis hed , and

th e

island gradually fell under the control

o f

t r i b a l w a r r i o r ch ie f s . W i t h i n decades,

t h e c o l o s s a l

statues on the cerem onial

platforms

or a h u were overthrown. By the

t i m e

John

L i n t o n P a l m e r, ship s surgeon

a b o a r d H M S Topaze,

arrived in 1868, n o

w o a i w a s

standing on a p l a t f o r m . Yet, out

of t h i s

chaos came

a completely new order;

the rule of the sacred b i r d m a n .

This drastic

change

not only had a

profound impact on island society, i t

also

b r o u g h t

w i t h

i t a c o m p l e t e l y n e w

a r t f o r m . The carved rocks of Orongo

village, the centre of birdm an ceremonies,

are v i v i d testimonies to the glory of this

emergent cult .

It

was in one of the houses o f Orongo

vil lage that the crew of the Topaze came

across a h a l f - b u ri e d nioni, w h i c h t h e y

b ro u gh t back to England w here it now can

be seen in the British Mus eum in Lo ndon .

This statue, cal led Hoa Hakananai a, is

beaut ifully sculpted fro m black basalt and

carved onto its back are the usual r i n g -

and-girdle motifs . However, new designs

have also been i n t ro d u c e d .

Tw o strange lo okin g creatures - ha l f

m a n , h a l f b i rd - c ro u c h f a c i n g each other.

Above th em is a st) lised

b ir d,

and on either

side there are ceremonial paddles ao ) and

d e p i c t i o n s o f

f er til ity

s y m b o l s {komari

-

these

last reflecting

the emphasis placed

o n

f er til ity

d u ri n g t h is

troublesome period

of Easter

I sland s history .

T h e l i n k

to birds is

also

significant. Sea

b irds were

believed to

be

messengers

f ro m t h e gods able to reach

t h e n i g h d y u n d e r w o d d ,

a n d t h e n

return at

the light of the day.

Ho a Hakananai a, therefore, represents

th e

t ransition between

th e

classical culture,

w i t h

it s emphasis on megalit hic statues,

an d

th e

n e w b i rd m a n

rule.

A good egg

T h e b i r d m a n , o r

taiigata uiaiiii

w a s a p p o i n t e d a n n u a l l y f o l l o w i n g a

com pet ition in Austral spr ing (September)

- see box p.22 . The part icipants gathered in

the ceremonial village of Orongo , perched

on t he l ip of the crater Rano Ka u

some

3 0 0 m ( 9 8 5 f t )

above

the roaring surf , a

place

of breathtaking beauty overlooking

t h e Pacific. Th i s spectacular location is

1 8

CURRENTWORLDARCHAEOLOGY

Issue

62



EASTER ISLAND

LEFT

Panoramic view of

the crater

Rano Kau

with

Orongo

village,

centre of

the

birdman cult

on Easter Island

INSET

Painted

slab

with

facing birdmen belonging to

the collections of the Museo Antropologico Padre

Sebastian Englert ( MPSE) Easter Island

t o Easter Island, most notably

Katherine Routledge in 1914-191S,

as

well

as i n f o r m a t i o n obtained

from

archaeological study of t he ceremonial

village itself. We also have expedition

records

f r o m

the late

f 9 t h

and early

2 0 t h centuries, of w h i c h arguably the

most i m p o r t a n t comes

f r o m

the 1868

vis it

by surgeon

John

L i n t o n Palmer.

Palmer was much fascinated by Mata

Ngarahu; he

w r o t e :

At the end of this

settlement., ahvostall the blocks of lava

are more or less sculptured; but as they are

weatherworn, and the material perishable

and overgrown, it is difficult to make out

the design - so much that made a coloured

sketch... without perceiving at the time that

the one represented a face, which quite startled

me on looking at my work. I wish

1

could have

spent some hours, nay, the whole night, up

there, working away with niy pencil; but at

2.30 was the last boat, and so duty called me

away from a most interesting place.

Palmer was a gifted painter. Many of

his watercolours show the famous statues,

the island s landscapes, tat too designs,

and characteristic woodcarvings. The

collection of his

work

at London s Royal

Geographical Society includes three

p r e v i o u sly unpublished paintings of

the decorations of Orongo village.

One of these shows a boulder

w i t h

a

face carved on its e x t r e m i t y (see p.21 .

The very same rock was documented

photographically by W i l l i a m Safford in

1886, durin g the American expedition led

by W i l l i a m Judah Thomson. Comparison

o f Palmer s waterc olour and Safford s >

exposed to s t r o n g w i n d s and p o u r i n g rain,

so about 50

elliptical

drystone houses were

constructed

to provide shelter f r o m the

elements. The ceremonial heart of Orongo

is the sacred precinct of Mata Ngarahu,

constructed

over a natural basalt o u t c r o p .

Each stone here is adorned

w i t h

stylised

images of b i r d m e n and large-eyed masks

representing

the chief deity Makemake.

Our knowledge about the b i r d m a n

c u l t comes f r o m the l i v i n g memory of

the

islanders recorded by early visitors

THE MO I OF EASTER ISLAND

Easter Island is a tiny speck o f l and lost in the s eemingly boundl ess East Pacific. Its

Polynesian name Rapa Nui was adopted in the second half of the 19th century. The

island

is

worid-famous for its monolithic statues:

moai,

which stood on ceremonial

platforms or ahu, arou nd the co ast The se figures representing venerated ancestors

were carved in quarries at the extinct volcano of Rano

Raraku.

According to the

islanders the

moai

possessed spiritual power

imana)

that protected the people living

in

the villages in front of th e ceremonial structures . The y were a strong link betwee n

ancestors and descendants betwee n the past and present

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CURRENTWORLDARCHAEOLOGY 9



p h o t o shows tha t Palmer caug ht the

essential details of the

scene,

a l l o w i n g

posit ive iden tif icati on of every rock in

his painting. This is crucial because not

o n l y

does

i t prove th at

Palmer s

work

wa s accurate an d t r u s t w o r t h y , but the

watercolour is one of only three

images

t h a t

show this particular rock

w i t h

a face

carving. The original boulder is now gone:

between 1905 and 1914, it slid do w n t he

cliffs of Rano Kau into the roaring surf.

Palmer was also th e

first

person to

document graphically the painted slabs

inside the houses o f O r o n g o . These

paintings were made

w i t h

red and wh ite

p i gm e n t s , p ro b a b l y m i x e d

w i t h

shark-

liver

oil as a binding

agent.

Th i s

choice

of colours has deep roots in Polynesian

culture. Red was sacred - the colour of

life a nd

associated

w i t h

sacred power

ma n a

and the god Makemake. W hite

backgrou nds were essential to create a

visual contrast to the red pigment on

g r e \ish-brown stone slabs set inside the

d a i k interiors

of

Orongo s

windowless

houses

w i t h

their narrow entrances.

\ V i t h t l i e passing years, the pigm ents

have

dried and faded, so th at out of scores

of p a i n t i n gs e x i s t i n g i n

Orongo

in the

19th century, only about a dozen survive

todav. Therefore, Palmer s watercolours

OVE

The rocks of

the

sacred precinct Mata

Ngarahu are densely caiA/ed

with

birdman motifs

in

bas-relief

Many stylised

faces

were caived at Orongo;

some, as seen here, are thought to represent the

chief god Makemake.

s h o w i n g

these

p a i n t i n gs i n

full

colour

contain invaluable inform atio n about the

aesthetics and iconog raphy of the ancient

i s la n d e rs. O f c o u rs e, d o c u m e n t a t i o n

of painted slabs inside the houses was

well beyond the reach of 19th-century

p h o t o g r a p h y . Palmer s w a t e rc o l o u rs

re c o rd t h e p a i n t i n gs o t h e rw i s e k n o w n

onl y fro m a single set of pho tog rap hs

taken by Safford 18 years later. A n unu sual

t w o - h e a d e d

bir d

was a variation of a

classical s o o t y tern design. The exact

mea ning o f this design is un kn ow n, but

it is quite frequent in the rock art and

wngurongo, the mysteriou s script of Easter

Island. The large frigate bird

image

has

a characteristic curved

beak.

Thanks to

Palmer s

watercolours, we know that the

f a d i n g p i gm e n t o f t h e b i rd s

eyes

was

black - tho ug h this is far from obvio us m

t h e m o n o c h r o m e h i s t o ric a l p h o t o gra p h s .

Paddle

w i th

power

One of Palmer s w a t e rc o l o u rs f ro m

Orongo documents an entire composit ion

made of four motifs depicted on a single

slab (see

r i g h t ) .

In the central posit ion

there is a ceremonial paddle or oar {ao .

I n

th e i apa N u i language, ao also means

governing power , so that the depiction

of the oar was a personified image of an

authority symbol . Thus, the oar design

has explicit human-like features: a clear

face

w i t h eyes

a n d nose, a ceremonial

feather

headdress

above

i t , and a painted

or tattooed body, as denoted by numerous

red-and- white stripes.

The actual specimens of ao collected

in

the 19th century are very impressive,

reaching over 2m (6ft) in length;

some

o f

them are painted red and w h i t e , i n

full

accordance w i t h

I^almer s w ater colo ur.

Several

no paintings were docum ented

in

the 20th century; some were rescued

f r o m l e a k i n g houses and depos ited in

t h e i s la n d s A n t h ro p o l o gi c a l M u s e u m .

However, none of the known paintings is

comparable

w i t h

th e ao i n Palmer s picture.

Once

again, Palmer s b r u s h

saved

for

p o s t e ri t y

a l o n g- l o s t , u n i q u e p a i n t e d

c o m p o s i t i o n . I t d e p i c ts a c e re m o n i a l

paddle accompanied b y t w o b i r d m e n

and another object - possibly a stylised

depiction of a plant or marine creature.

Th e n u m b e r o f p a i n t i n gs

once

a d o rn i n g Orongo houses is impressive:

only a handful of wall-paintings are

known elsewhere on the island, hidden

in

caves. A re these t h e o n l y vestiges of the

use of colo ur in arch itectur e? W ere th e

n u m e ro u s b i rd m a n p e t ro gh- p h s of the

sacred precinct of ata N g a r a h u - as

well as those scattered a m o n g t h e h o u s e s

of

Orongo

vil lage - also i C ^ r r . c d v . l t l i

paint? If so, do we

have

en; u;r. data to

reconstruct Orongo,

alee;:

tentativ ely, as

it

looked when the b i r d m a n competit ions

were

still

occurring? Here, again. Palmer s

expedition

makes

a c o n t r i b u t i o n .

B E L O W John

Linton Palme

~=-;ec this

previously

unpublished watercolour

in

^S£S handwritten

caption explains that this mot

=:;eared

on a side-

slab

fronting the entrance of a .=-ge stone house.

2 0 C R

TWCRLDARCHAECLOGY

Issue 6



Painted

moai

The published

accounts

of Palmer s visit

to the island briefly mention that the

moai

Hoa Hakananai a, fo und inside

the house at Orongo, was painted red

and

w h i t e .

The pigments were mostly

w ip ed away when the statue was

dragged on its back down the slopes

of

Rano

Kau, and then rafted to the

s h i p .

As it stood on deck aboard ship

dur i n g the entire journey to Europe,

exposed

to the elements, t he

dr i v i ng

rains at sea removed st i l l more colour.

Once at the Bri tish Mus eum, it was

e x h i b i t e d

in the exterio r por tic o for a

l o n g

time, .seemingly erasing all hope

of

discovering anything about its

or iginal

paint. However, some hints of

or iginal

colours can st i l l be glimpsed in

his tor ical

photographs - and even, most

surpr is ingly ,

on the statue itself.

One of the earliest pho tog raphs

i l lustrating

the back of the statue shows

t ha t its bas-relief carvings were marked

in

wh i t e .

Was this simply an outline or a

completely white-washed background, as

seen

in Orongo paintings? We believe that

a solid background is most probable. This

t heo ry

is substantiated by two birdman

rocks inside the houses of Mata Ngarahu

t ha t s t i l l preserve traces of a uniform

wh i t e background.

The historical photo of Hoa

Hakananai a

seems to show tha t the ceremo nial

paddles

ao)

featured a set of horiz ont al

lines, similar to those

seen

in Palmer s

wate r co lour ,

suggesting t hat the

ao

were

usually painted as they are portrayed on

the painted

slabs

inside Orongo houses.

LOW Palmer s v atercolour

1868,

previously

unpublished) of a tv o-headed bird and a stylised

frigate bird.

RIGI- i

Safford s

photograph

1886)

of painted

slabs,

including

the two-headed

bird

depicted by Palmer

Incredib ly ,

given the

statue s

exposure

to rain

for so many years, digital

image

processing revealed traces of red on the

statue s

back.

Red was a colour favoured by the

ancient

Easter

Islanders: they applied

it to wood carvings and their paper-

mulber ry clothing, as we l l as using it to

paint their bodies. The red pigment ki ea

was generally

made

fro m red-coloured >

www.world archaeology.com

URRENTWORLD R H EOLOGY

2



clay. Tho ugh this clay is sticky whe n

w e t , once dry it falls off easily. Indeed,

there is a charming

Rapa

Nui story t h a t

relates how a tr i ckster named UrePooi

played a practical joke on the girls by

m a k i n g

the roosters sing long before

d a w n .

The girls awoke and, believing it

was m or ni ng , began

their

preparations

for that evening's feast, painting

their

faces w i t h

ki en.

But, as they had got up

too

early, the pigment d r i e d and fell off

before they reached the feast. Ifki eci did

no t hold on girls

faces

for a day, how

could

it possibly survive for more than a

c e nt u r y

on niocii Hoa Hakananai'a?

The answer lies in the statue's porous

basalt rock. As the moai was painted

several ti mes - for it is safe to assume

the pigment was reapplied annually

fo r the b i r d m a n ceremony - these pores

were

t i g h t l y

stuffed w i t h m u l t i p l e layers

o f reddish clay. And, though ki ea has

problems when attached to a smooth

surface ( t h i s is wh y so many Oron go

paintings have not s u r v i v e d ) , it w o u l d

become i mbedded, layer upon layer, w i t h i n

the t i n y holes on the porous surface of the

ABOVE A digital reconstruction of the paintings

on

the back

of Hoa Hakananai'a as it nnay have appeared

when

found

half-buried

inside

a house

in

Orongo

village.

statue; so, even after prolonged exposure

to

the elements, some clay particles w o u l d

survive inside the pores even today. The

w h i t e pigm ent , however, was made

from a pulverised w h i t e tuff called

marikuru that turns i n t o a fine

powder

o n d r y i n g . It w o u l d

not stick to the pores' walls as the clayish

ki ea d i d , and so has not survived.

L o o k i n g at d i g i t a l l y enhanced

images of Hoa Hakananai'a, one can

see t h a t the carvings of ao, the bird,

and b i r d m e n

display many traces of red

pigment. The bottom

p a r t

of the moai

also features large red-coloured areas,

w h i c h is

unsurpri si ng

since the statue

was buri ed to waist level in the reddish

soil

at Orongo. The independent

con

fi

r m a t i o n t h a t bas-relief

carv i

ngs

were paint ed red - simi lar to t hose

stones at Mata Ngarahu w i t h preserved

w h i t e pigment covering the entire

background of the carving -

comes

f r o m

a boulder collected in 1905 by

Alexander

Agassiz's

expedition (now in

the Peabody Museum of Archaeology

and Ethnologv in Cambridg e,

Massachusetts), w hi ch shows traces

of red pigment in rock pores.

Therefore , basing our case on the

evidence of colour-use in painted slabs

inside

houses, hi stori cal photographs

o f moai Hoa Hakananai'a. pigment

traces seen in car\'ed rocks, as w e l l as

THE BIRDMAN AND THE EGG

According to tradition, the first egg of the sooty tern to be laid each

year

overflov*/ed with

mana

(power). He who found it was ano inted

birdman of Easter Island for the year. Later, the participants used

proxies, or

hopu,

who woul d compete on their behalf. The competitors

had to climb down the cliff of Rano Kau, and swim about 1.5km

1

mile) through the rough sea to the offshore islet of

Motu

Nui,

where the birds made their nests each spring. They waited there,

sometimes for we eks, for the birds to start laying. Th e man wh o found

the first egg signalled to Oron go, annou ncin g that his patron was to

bec ome birdman, before swimmi ng back to the island, climbing back

up to

Orongo

and presenting the magical egg.

The newly proclaimed birdman shaved his head, eyebrows, and

eyelashes. He also took a new name, which was then adopted as the name

of th e year; this provided a chronology of sorts. In 1914-1915, the British

archaeologist K atherine Routledge r ecorded almost 100 such names,

directly from informants who participated in birdman ceremonies.

The birdman, or

tangata

manu, then danced and sang his way from

Orongo to his new residence at the quarries of Ra no Raraku or in the

fermer

royal residence at Anakena, where he lived, in seclusion, for

the

entire

year, in a grass-thatched house sh aped like an ove rtur ned

boot

He spent his days sitting in the hut s shadow, serving as a kind of

orade to visitors wh o bnDught him food, and abstained from bathing

or cutting his fingernails and hair Meanwhile, his tribe enjoyed

pan-island power - which was often abused by tribe members

who plundered the fields of rival clans.

Though in theory each group had the chance to this privilege,

politics and power played an important role: not every trtie was actually

allowed to take part in the competition.

We do not know the exact origins of the birdman cutt However, it was

synchronised with the seasonal

arrival

of

binds

and pelagic fish, so it seems

prxjbable

it

ernerged n

response

D the neecb of an extended island popuiartkD^

that required better management of

food

resources Latei; the competition

became a hugely important social event, enduring until 1867wherv acconding

to folkore, the last birdman was Rue, who took t he nam e Rokung a

BELOV / View towards the bird islets of Motu Nui

(left),

Motu Iti (centre)

and Motu Kaokao (right)

from

the courtyard

area

of Mata Ngarahu Orongo.

Every boulder here

is

carved

with birdman

designs.

•5

CURRENTWORLDARCHAEOLOGY

Issue

6



E STER ISL ND

The distinctive face of mo i Hoa Hal<ananai a

(ABOVE); carvings on the bacl< o f

the

statue

(ABOVE CENTRE); 19th-century photograph

showing

white

symbol outlines (ABOVE RIGHT);

the modern image enhanced, to show traces o f

red pigment

in rocl<

pores (ABOVE FAR RIGHT).

computer-enhanced

images

of the statue,

we

have

been able t o create a t e n t a t i v e

reconstruction of the statue s back as it was

painted at the times of the

t ng t

m nu

cerem onies, inside a large

house

i n Orongo

vil lage. We suggest t h a t t h e

eyes

of the

b i r d m e n ,

bir d,

a n d o were black, just as

they were painted on the slabs a d o r n i n g

house interiors seen

today in the museum s,

as well as on Palmer s watercolours.

The resulting image shows that the use

o

colour was necessary t o

emphasise

the

reliefs carved on the statue standing inside

the stone house,

w i t h

it s sole source o f

l ight coming through the narrow entrance

passage at ground level. Such a dark

space

w o u l d have needed a white background

to highlight the carvings on the

statue s

back, and ensure t hey were clearly visible.

Moreover, the consistent use of colour,

both to highlight the carvings

o

mo i Hoa

Hakananai a

a n d i n t h e t w o - d i m e n s i o n a l

m u r a l s o f O r o n g o , establishes a bridge

between the two domains.

Cleady, exposure to rain

wil l

damage

the pain tin gs . However, there is a

striking difference between plain-su rface

and bas-relief paintings: the latter are

r e s is t a n t t o c o l o u r - m i x i n g . I n d e e d ,

while the pigment from elevated areas

m ay filter to some

degree

over a white

b a c k g r o u n d , t h e w h i t e p i g m e n t

does

>

BELOW Stone houses o f Orongo village, construct ed

of dry-laid basalt slabs. The foreground four-entrance

house, called Taura Renga

once

sheltered the

mo i

called Hoa Hakananai a.



n o t

get washed over the red

bas-reUefs.

As a result, the

designs

stand out well

i n

t h e i r c o rre c t c o l o u rs w i t h o u t m u c h

s m u d g i n g , even a f t e r p ro l o n ge d ra i n f a l l .

Waking the birdman

I f

there are carved rocks

w i t h

traces of paint

inside the Mata Ngarahu

houses,

could the

entire

sacred precinct

have

been painted? We

t h i n k

that the

chances

of this are reasonably

h i g h .

A pplication of colour may

have

been

considered an im po rta nt act associated

w i t h

replenishing their sacred power

mana).

I t is not too fanciful to envisage the act

o f p a i n t i n g b e i n g a n i m p o r t a n t p a r t o f

t h e c e re m o n y d u ri n g w h i c h t h e names o f

al

the birdmen carved on the boulders of

M a t a Nga ra h u w e re i n v o k e d . W i t h t h e i r

eyes

pain ted black, the

images

would be

"awakened' to

l i fe,

much as the island's

m o n u m e n t a l statues were when their

coral

eyes w i t h

obsidian pupils were

inserted into their eye sockets.

Traditionally,

the black pigment on

Easter

Island was prepared fr om charred

leaves o f a Cordyline p l a n t , m i x e d

w i t h

sugar-cane juice. The Rapa N u i

name

of the

sacred precinct, Mata Ngarahu, translates as

the 'soot eyes - ma ki ng a perfect reference

to

th e

place

where

each

rock

literally

stares

back at the beholder

w i t h

a m u l t i t u d e o f

soot-black

eyes

p a i n t e d o n

tangata manu

reliefs and Makemake face masks.

F o r t h e a n n u a l c o m p e t i t i o n , t h e

re-pai ntin g of Mata Ngarahu petrogl>^hs

m a y w e l l have functioned as an off ic ial

opening ceremony, thereby preparing the

site for selection of the new sacred ruler

w h o w o u l d b r i n g a b u n d a n t f o o d a n d

prosperity

to the island throughout the

f o l l o w i n g

year,

n

ABOVE

Tentative reconstruoion of arited petj-oglyphs

at Mata Ngarahu,

based

on

Gec a Lee s

photograph

of the

sacred site.

SOURCES

Dr Paul Horley Dr

Georgia

Lee, and Dr Paul Bahn are

rock-art

specialists.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are very grateful to Joy Wheeler

(tlie

Royal Geographical

Society

with

IBG, London), Alice Moschetti and Yolande Ferreira (the British Museum, London), Daisy

Njoku (the National Anthropological Archives, Washington DC),

Susan

Snyder (the Bancroft

Library

Berkeley), William

Hydec

Mark Olivet; and Pierre

Lesage

fo r

their kind

help

with

digital

image

files and

permissions to use th e corresponding pictures

in

this article.

FURTHER READIXC;

P Bahn

€ /

J Flenley

Easter sland

Eanh Island

Santiago:

Rapa N ui

Press, 2 1 2

G Lee, Th e Rock Art of

Easte r s land

symbols

of power, prayers to the

gods Lo s Angeles:

UCLA Institute

of Archaeology, 1992,

J A van

Tilburg,

Remote Possibilities:

HMS

Topaze on Easter Island

Research

Paper 158,

London:

British

Museum Press, 2006.

J Flenley &

P

Bahn, Enigmas

of Easter

Island

New

York:

Oxford University

Press,

2002.

CURRENTV ORLDARCHAEOLOGY

Issue 6

Documents

Horgey, Lee & Barns, Birdman