Hats of Antiquity: Rapa Nui

For those of you who do not know about the mysterious Rapi Nui also known as “Easter Island” which is an island in the Pacific Ocean; located at the southeastern most point of the Polynesian triangle; it is claimed to be the most remote inhabited island in the world.    In 1722, a Dutch explorer, Jacob Roggeveen, sighted and visited the island. This happened to be on an Easter Sunday, and the name stuck: Easter Island (Isla de Pascua in Spanish).

Anthropologists, Archaeologist and Historians have always been baffled with the origins of these indigenous peoples and the specifics around their culture.  One of the things that caught my attention, besides the mystery behind the over 1,000 statues found on the island is that only 70 to 75 of them were observed with wearing hats.   The monolith statues were called Moai and are carved from island rock. The formidable chapeaus  weighed several tons were carved from a crater full of red scoria, volcanic pumice whose color symbolizes high birth and status.  One can only imagine the significance the hat had in everyday life.    Chieftain society was highly competitive and it has been suggested that they were competing so much that they over-ran their resources. It is that school of thought to suggest the society caused it’s own demise with the over utilization of trees just to transport materials and the sculptures; the trunks of the trees were laid flat beneath the base of the object and rolled to it’s destination.  To imagine this technique is mind boggling; it was approximated eight miles from the quarry to the point of installation.   One would have to consider the magnitude of the process and the amount of trees it took to cart these objects; considering these over 1,000 tons of rock would require an abundance of trees.   It is said these people where great engineers; great environmentalist they were not.

There is no substantial scientific evidence to support anything on how these people dressed or the type of hats they actually wore,  my mind likes to take a gander down the road of imagination.  I imagine the most ornately decorative hats to be worn by the group leaders, shamans and dignitaries: tall, wide brimmed with feathers of indigenous birds; like the Huli’s famed “wigmen” who utilized a variety of mediums including human hair and feathers from the male bird of paradise, colorful and full of life.   Even the common class individuals might have worn interesting hats.   I can envision brightly colored, especially red straw or textile with interesting designs woven into its crown, geometric and organic patterns.