Moai remains found on Rarotonga, Cook Islands - General Tiki

TW Trader Woody Member Tiki Manor, Forest of Bowland,UK Joined: Mar 25, 2002 Posts: 2301	TW Trader Woody Posted posted on Thu, Apr 1, 2004 5:02 AM This just in off the mojo wire: "Remains of a giant Moai, described as unique have been found by excavators clearing an area of a Rarotonga quarry. The remains were discovered by two workers in a disused part of the Varde Crit Stone Company's main operations centre. 'This is an amazing find', said visiting palaeontologist Dilys Parafolo of the University of Santiago, Chile. 'It's the first Moai to be found outside Easter Island and is surprisingly well preserved. It's smaller than its cousins on Easter Island and appears to have developed from a group that got separated at some point in the past. Whatever our studies reveal, it's inevitable that textbooks will have to be re-written' The compact nature of the rock means it's almost undamaged, but the most striking discovery is that it contains a great deal of fossilised tissue, meaning that the mud in which the Moai died was oxygen-poor, which inhibited natural composition by microbes. It's hoped that extraction, preservation and display of the fossil will be completed in one year, and the Moai will go on view at the Cook Island National Museum." Trader Woody

This just in off the mojo wire:

"Remains of a giant Moai, described as unique have been found by excavators clearing an area of a Rarotonga quarry. The remains were discovered by two workers in a disused part of the Varde Crit Stone Company's main operations centre.

'This is an amazing find', said visiting palaeontologist Dilys Parafolo of the University of Santiago, Chile. 'It's the first Moai to be found outside Easter Island and is surprisingly well preserved. It's smaller than its cousins on Easter Island and appears to have developed from a group that got separated at some point in the past. Whatever our studies reveal, it's inevitable that textbooks will have to be re-written'

The compact nature of the rock means it's almost undamaged, but the most striking discovery is that it contains a great deal of fossilised tissue, meaning that the mud in which the Moai died was oxygen-poor, which inhibited natural composition by microbes.

It's hoped that extraction, preservation and display of the fossil will be completed in one year, and the Moai will go on view at the Cook Island National Museum."

Trader Woody

Post #83963 by Trader Woody on Thu, Apr 1, 2004 5:02 AM