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AMS 14C age determinations of Rapanui (Easter Island) wood sculpture: moai kavakava ET 48.63 from Brussels

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

F. Forment ,
D. Huyge  and
H. Valladas
F. Forment
Affiliation:
Royal Museums of Art and History, Jubelpark 10, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium, [email protected]
D. Huyge
Affiliation:
Royal Museums of Art and History, Jubelpark 10, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium, [email protected]
H. Valladas
Affiliation:
Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, Avenue de la Terrasse, F-91198 Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, France, [email protected]
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Abstract

Direct dating, using the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) 14C method, of a wooden moai kavakava (anthropomorphic woodcarving) in the collection of the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels has given a date of about cal AD 1390–1480. As there are reasons to believe that this age not only regards the raw material but also the carving itself, preserved examples of Easter Island wood sculpture may be much older than previously assumed and possibly contemporaneous with the giant monolithic sculpture of the first half of the 2nd millennium AD.

Keywords

Rapa NuiEaster Islandwood sculpturemoai kavakavadirect dating
Type
News & Notes
Information
Antiquity , Volume 75 , Issue 289 , September 2001 , pp. 529 - 532
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2001

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