Easter Island Moai Statue degradation

Crumbling Giants on Easter Island - environmental degradation with a monitoring twist

It has been reported that the giant Moai statues on Easter Island are crumbling and in urgent need of conservation efforts. Easter Island is a particularly remote (inhabited) island in the South Pacific, belonging to Chile. The statues represent a major archeological treasure (designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site) and tourist attraction, with associated annual tourist revenues of several million dollars. The imposing figures are believed to have been carved out of compressed volcanic ash about 500-1200 years ago (... did we just hear grandma interject something about Atlantis and her Erich von Däniken books* ...?).

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The porous statues are reportedly subject to the corrosive marine atmosphere, alternating wet/dry moisture cycles and temperature swings, as well as microbiological (algae) damage. A major restoration effort is currently planned by the German company Maar Denkmalpflege. The protective measures, such as moisture proofing, developed through lengthy laboratory work are to be evaluated on probes before actual application on the precious statues. This testing and monitoring program represents verification of the proposed restoration technologies.

This particular restoration and protection program has many "big picture" similarities to more conventional corrosion monitoring and protection projects, such as:

The problem developed gradually, until it reached the "SOS", "alarm", "crisis" stage, with serious macroscopic decay in evidence. Could it be another case of the corrosion cycle ...?
Perhaps a short-term, "band-aid" "solution" (or two) were initially attempted ... but proved unsuccessful.
Extensive planning and preparation work is required to formulate a proposed long-term solution.
The proposed solution is to be verified by a monitoring program using probes (samples), before the actual "structures" are tackled.
Getting budgets, financing, funding in place, for implementing a long-term solution is a major challenge (rehabilitation costs are projected at around $10 million).
Work in a remote location is logistically challenging.
A multi-disciplinary project team is required.
The co-operation of various organizations, stakeholders is required.
It helps to have patience, and passion (we suspect).

* The books of Swiss author Erich von Däniken have sold to the tune of 60 million copies, proving much more popular than texts on corrosion and corrosion monitoring !

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References/Literature:

CBC radio interview with Stefan Maar (March 19, 2004).

New Zealand Archaeology, "Moai need saving", November 11, 2003.

Links:
The Maar Denkmalpflege web site has background information and further details, including a collection of numerous press articles in pdf file format.