Avareipua (Female Moai)

Named after Avareipua (the sister of King Hotu Matu’a), this moai has features, particularly the breasts, which suggest it represents a woman. Only around ten of the moai that remain on Easter Island have features (breasts and/or vulva) that permit their classification as female. Four of these are in the quarry on the Rano Raraku Volcano.

The torso of this moai was found in 1956 near the Anakena beach by the archaeologists participating in the Norwegian expedition led by Thor Heyerdahl. Thirty years later, in 1988, another expedition led by Heyerdahl found the head in the wall of the Ahu Nau-Nau altar on the same beach. 

The Rapa Nui community then asked Heyerdahl to return the torso, which had been taken to the Kon-Tiki Museum in Norway, so the moai could again be complete. However, although it is exhibited as a single moai, some scientists believe that the head and the torso in fact belong to two different moai because the base of the neck does not fit properly on the torso.