Almost 600 colossal stone statues, each hewn from a single piece of stone, are found on Easter Island in the South Pacific, about 2300 miles west of Santiago, Chile. The earliest figures are estimated to date from the 8th or 10th century. No metal occurs on the island. The stone is a greyish welded tuff, made up of granules of volcanic materials naturally fused into a compact mass. The figures were carved with small hand picks of hard basalt, which were 8 10 in length, and weighed 2-3 pounds. The stone did not flake or split, but was pulverized by the picks. The eyes were rnade separately of white coral fragments and red welded tuff disks. Methods of native transport for the enormous figures, some weighing over 100 tons, are also discussed. -- AATA