The tranquil and barren island of Rapa Nui, commonly known as Easter Island, illustrates the rich cultural and ecological history of the self-sustaining Rapa Nui civilization that existed in complete isolation from the 13th – 17th century A.D. The island’s several hundred abandoned megalithic statues (moai) stand tall amongst the treeless, grass-covered terrain, stoically gazing across the region as monumental markers of the tireless physical labor and determination of the fallen Rapa Nui people.