The sun became brighter and brighter.
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The largest ceremonial center on the island:
The history of Tongariki mixes mythological stories, wars between clans and settlements of tribes that date back to the tenth century. In the large esplanade that extends in front of the ahu, there have been remains of boat-houses or hare paenga, old hearths or umu pae and hundreds of petroglyphs engraved in the volcanic rock that reflect the importance of this extraordinary place.
It is believed that Tongariki was the sociopolitical and religious center of Hotu Iti, one of the two great clans that grouped the tribes of the eastern sector of the island. The first human occupation dates from the year 900 AD. and it is related to the first phase of a first ahu. The impressive final monument is the result of a successive series of modifications and extensions, carried out throughout history, which show the technical mastery achieved.
Ahu Tongariki is the largest ceremonial structure built on Easter Island and the most important megalithic monument in all of Polynesia. It represents the zenith of the sacred constructions called ahu-moai that were developed in Rapa Nui for more than 500 years.
The central platform, whose axis is oriented to the rising sun of the summer solstice, measures almost 100 meters long and with its wings or original lateral extensions reached a total length of 200 meters. During the last final phase of construction of the ceremonial altar, Ahu Tongariki held 15 moai, which made it the platform with the largest number of images of the whole island.
Unfortunately, as happened with the rest of the ceremonial platforms of the island, the moai were knocked down from the ahu during the violent episodes that took place between the different island clans at the time of decadence of the Rapanui culture. It is believed that this period began after 1500 AD. reaching its peak at the end of the seventeenth century.
It is not known with certainty when the statues of the Ahu Tongariki were demolished, but according to the testimonies of the first European navigators who arrived at the island, it seems that these were no longer standing when they arrived at the beginning of the 18th century. However, the place continued to be used as a cemetery until the conversion of the population to Catholicism in the second half of the 19th century.
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