Outer slopes of Rano Raraku with twenty moai, some buried to the neck

Hotu-iti (also, "Tongariki territory") is an area of southeastern Easter Island that takes its name from a local clan. Located in Rapa Nui National Park, the area includes Rano Raraku crater, the Ahu Tongariki site, and a small bay. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Hotu-iti clan was one of two polities on Easter Island.

Geography

Hotu-iti contains Rano Raraku crater, which is the island's only source of a type of stone that was considered to be the best for carving statues; it was also a source of moss which was used for canoe caulking.[1] Hotuiti Bay, a small cove, is protected by the cliffs of the Poike Peninsula.[2][3] According to local legend, the god Tangaroa was killed in the bay and was buried in the vicinity.[4] The Rano Raraku cliffs and quarry stand above Hotu-iti. The landscape has been described as a "wondrous spiritual landscape of striking beauty".[5][6]

History

Six of the fifteen Ahu Tongariki moai

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the island was divided into two polities, described as either west (Tu'u)[7] and east (Hotu-iti) confederacies, with Hotu-iti being the lower ranked;[5] or northern (Tu'u Aro) and southern (Hotu-iti).[8] In 1960, a tsunami, approximately 6 metres (20 ft) above sea level, crossed 500 metres (1,600 ft) of Hotu-iti, sweeping away ahu and moai (statues), and scattering them by 50–150 metres (160–490 ft).[9] Fifteen statues of Hotu-iti's Ahu Tongariki site were damaged;[10] a team of Japanese archaeologists restored the site between 1992 and 1994.[10]

Leadership

In Polynesian mythology, Hotu-iti was the youngest and favourite son of Hotu Matu'a, the legendary first settler of Easter Island.[10][11] One of the known chiefs of the Hotu-iti clan was Kainga, said to be a descendant of the sixth son of the first king who "proved himself a valiant warrior." He had a son who succeeded him named Huriavai.[12] The Tupahotu, Koro-Orongo and Ure-o-Hei clans were considered part of the Hotu-iti clan.[13]

References

  1. Diamond, Jared (4 January 2011). Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail Or Succeed. Penguin. pp. 94–. ISBN 978-0-14-311700-1. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  2. Theroux, Paul (8 December 2006). The Happy Isles of Oceania: Paddling the Pacific. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 456–. ISBN 978-0-618-65898-5. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  3. Russell, Jan Jarboe (1 November 2007). They Lived to Tell the Tale: True Stories of Modern Adventure from the Legendary Explorers Club. Globe Pequot. pp. 295–. ISBN 978-1-59228-991-2. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  4. Englert, Sebastián (1970). Island at the center of the world: new light on Easter Island. Scribner. p. 169. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  5. 1 2 Peregrine, Peter Neal; Ember, Melvin (2001). Encyclopedia of Prehistory: East Asia and Oceania. Springer. p. 57. ISBN 978-0-306-46257-3. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  6. Tilburg, JoAnne Van (1 April 2003). Among stone giants: the life of Katherine Routledge and her remarkable expedition to Easter Island. Scribner. ISBN 978-0-7432-4480-0. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  7. The Enigmas of Easter Island. Oxford University Press. pp. 212–. ISBN 978-0-19-164719-2. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  8. Gillespie, Rosemary G.; Clague, D. A. (19 August 2009). Encyclopedia of Islands. University of California Press. pp. 249–. ISBN 978-0-520-25649-1. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  9. Dudley, Walter C.; Lee, Min (1998). Tsunami!. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 142–. ISBN 978-0-8248-1969-9. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  10. 1 2 3 Stanley, David (1 January 2000). South Pacific Handbook. David Stanley. p. 296. ISBN 978-1-56691-172-6. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  11. Craig, Robert D. (1 October 1989). Dictionary of Polynesian Mythology. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-313-25890-9. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  12. Thomson, William J. (2007). Te Pito Te Henua, Or Easter Island. Forgotten Books. p. 138. ISBN 978-1-60506-953-1. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  13. Akadémia, Magyar Tudományos (1961). Acta ethnographica. Magyar Tudományos Akadémia. p. 399. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.