Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The 15 moai at Ahu Tongariki make up the largest group of statues on Rapa Nui. Photograph by Jordan Banks This article was ...

Lying 2,000 miles west of the South American coast and more than 1,000 miles from the nearest settlement, a tiny island was visited by Jacob Roggeveen, a Dutch navigator, on Easter Sunday 1722. He ...

In his “Island at the Edge of the World,” the British archaeologist Mike Pitts delves into the misconceptions and legends surrounding a complex ancient culture. By Joshua Hammer Joshua Hammer is the ...

Finding out what actually happened in the deep past can be a slog, so when ancient history is packaged as mystery—spine-tingling but solvable—it’s hard to resist. Who doesn’t want to know how a lost ...

Only Slate Plus members can gift Slate stories. Become a member to share 10 free articles a month. More than 1,289 miles from the nearest human settlement, Easter Island—or Rapa Nui, as its own people ...

This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK). The sky is still dark and the windscreen wipers are working furiously. I'm being driven across Rapa Nui, otherwise known as Easter ...

Roggeveen named his find Easter Island (known locally as Rapa Nui). In 1774, Capt. James Cook landed with a party of scientists. Unimpressed by the island’s paltry range of crops, its brackish water ...