<P> Those moai that are less eroded typically have designs carved on their backs and posteriors . The Routledge expedition of 1914 established a cultural link between these designs and the island's traditional tattooing, which had been repressed by missionaries a half - century earlier . Until modern DNA analysis of the islanders and their ancestors, this was key scientific evidence that the moai had been carved by the Rapa Nui and not by a separate group from South America . </P> <P> At least some of the moai were painted; Hoa Hakananai'a was decorated with maroon and white paint until 1868, when it was removed from the island . It is now housed in the British Museum, London . </P> <P> The statues were carved by the Polynesian colonizers of the island, mostly between circa 1250 A.D. and 1500 A.D. In addition to representing deceased ancestors, the moai, once they were erected on ahu, may also have been regarded as the embodiment of powerful living or former chiefs and important lineage status symbols . Each moai presented a status: "The larger the statue placed upon an ahu, the more mana the chief who commissioned it had ." The competition for grandest statue was ever prevalent in the culture of the Easter Islanders . The proof stems from the varying sizes of moai . </P> <P> Completed statues were moved to ahu mostly on the coast, then erected, sometimes with red stone cylinders (pukao) on their heads . Moai must have been extremely expensive to craft and transport; not only would the actual carving of each statue require effort and resources, but the finished product was then hauled to its final location and erected . </P>

Why were the statues of easter island built
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