The above image is of a Moai figure. Most people recognize the Moai as coming from Easter Island (Rapa Nui). We do not associate snow and freezing weather with such figures. So how did this figure come to find itself in a snowbank? This is a replica Moai at Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, Wyoming and was placed here by faculty at the college who have research interests in Easter Island. The staff occasionally take tour groups to the island as well and I'm told the experience is an amazing one. There is much speculation as to how the ancient inhabitants of Rapa Nui carved these colossi and then "walked" them from the quarry site to their positions overlooking the sea. It was an amazing bit of group cooperation and engineering skill. The Moai were placed in rows of figures and many had hats, looking something like a top hat. Thanks to WWCC for creating a reminder of these industrious and ingenious people. Most of all thanks for not putting a cowboy hat on the replica.
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Terry A. Del BeneWriter- "Have Words, Will Travel" Archives
February 2018
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