Nestled within the South Pacific Ocean, some 6,000 folks stay on essentially the most remoted, inhabited island on this planet: Rapa Nui. Identified to many as Easter Island, a reputation Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen coined after touchdown on the island on Easter Sunday 1722, Rapa Nui is roughly double the scale of Disney World, or 63.2 sq. miles. And yearly, some 100,000 folks go to the distant island to see the famed 13-foot-tall moai statues or Easter Island heads.
As you would possibly anticipate, visiting the distant island isn’t simple. To fight overtourism to the small island, solely a restricted variety of flights journey to Rapa Nui every week. Meaning flights can e book up rapidly, particularly through the busy season between December and March. However now, because of the work of an intrepid staff of geographers and researchers, you’ll be able to view the spectacular moai statues from the consolation of residence.
The staff, which included college from Binghamton College and the State College of New York, simply launched the first-ever high-resolution 3D mannequin of Rano Raraku, one of many main quarries on Rapa Nui. The mannequin consists of almost 1,000 rigorously rendered moai statues. It additionally lets viewers discover the Rano Raraku quarry, which is positioned in a steep volcanic crater that guests to the island can’t discover as a consequence of security issues.
“You possibly can see issues that you just couldn’t really see on the bottom. You possibly can see tops and sides and every kind of areas that [you] simply would by no means be capable of stroll to,” stated staff member and Binghamton College anthropologist Carl Lipo in a press release. Lipo can also be the lead creator of a brand new paper on the mannequin and statues printed in PLOS One in November 2025.
Along with offering researchers with an in depth 3D duplicate of Rano Raraku quarry, Lipo additionally hopes the mannequin will assist extra folks expertise the island.
“We’re documenting one thing that actually has wanted to be documented, however in a manner that’s actually complete and shareable.” So go get busy exploring Rano Raraku! As Lipo stated, “the quarry is just like the archeological Disneyland.” However one now you can go to from the comforts of residence.
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