Did you know the Easter Island heads have bodies?
Yup it’s true. And some are as tall as 10 meters (33ft)! The Moai have overly large heads (3/5 the size of their bodies), and because of photographs taken in the 50’s of the slopes of Rano Raraku (where the statues are buried to their shoulders) many (including me) are lead to believe that they are only heads!
Check out the Easter Island Statue Project (http://www.eisp.org/) for more info on the excavation, Easter Island history, and more pictures!
Lost and Found
Sometimes it’s a little difficult to keep track of 24,000 objects, especially when over the years work-study students, interns, and volunteers change so frequently. Occasionally here at the Museum a long-lost part of our collection will turn up with little to no history or data other than an old Montana State Zoological Museum tag to bring it back home. Such was the case this morning! When I got to the Museum, Dave was here with the new curator of the Historical Museum at Fort Missoula. Apparently some staff came across this large chest underneath a work table and upon inspection realized it was a part of our collection from ages ago! We surmised that these skulls along with the specimens from the geological/paleontology collections were checked out in the ’90s to use for educational demonstrations at the Fort. Whatever the case, we’re happy to have them back in our collection now!
