View source for Puna Pau

{{Short description|Prehistoric quarry in Easter Island}}
[[Image:Ahu Tahai.jpg|thumb|A red scoria pukao on the head of a moai at [[Easter Island#Ahu|Ahu]] Tahai, made using rock from Puna Pau]]

Maunga '''Puna Pau''' is a  small crater or [[cinder cone]] and prehistoric [[quarry]] on the outskirts of [[Hanga Roa]] in the south west of [[Easter Island]] (a [[Chile]]an island in the [[Pacific Ocean]]). Puna Pau gives its name to one of the seven regions of the [[Rapa Nui National Park]].

Puna Pau was the sole source of the red [[scoria]] that the prehistoric [[Rapa Nui people|Rapanui]] used to carve the [[pukao]] (topknots) that they put on the heads of some of their iconic [[moai]] statues.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Seager Thomas|first=Mike|date=2014|title=Stone use and avoidance on Easter Island. Red scoria from the topknot quarry at Puna Pau and other sources.|journal=Archaeology in Oceania|volume=49|issue=2}}</ref> The stone from Puna Pau was also used for [[Ahu (Easter Island)|ahu]] facia blocks and a non-standard moai found in front of one of the ahu at Vinapu.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Heyerdahl|first1=Thor|title=The Archaeology of Easter Island|last2=Ferdon|first2=Edwin|publisher=Rand McNally & Co.|year=1961|location=New York}}</ref> It was not used to fashion the crouching moai [[Rano Raraku|Tukuturi at Rano Raraku]], which is of Rano Raraku tuff.<ref>[[Mike Seager Thomas]] pers. comm.{{rs|date=April 2024}}</ref>

Archaeological excavations were carried out at Puna Pau between 2009 and 2013<ref>{{Cite book|last=LOC|url=https://archive.org/details/LOC3PunaPau2009english|title=Excavations at Puna Pau, 2009. Rapa Nui Landscapes of Construction Project Interim Reports 3|publisher=UCL Institute of Archaeology Rapa Nui Landscapes of Construction Project|year=2009|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=LOC|url=https://archive.org/details/LOC6PunaPau2012English|title=Excavations and Survey at Puna Pau, 2012. Rapa Nui Landscapes of Construction Project Interim Reports 6|publisher=UCL Institute of Archaeology Rapa Nui Landscapes of Construction Project|year=2012|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=LOC|url=https://archive.org/details/LOC8PunaPau2013english|title=Excavation and Survey at Puna Pau, 2013. Rapa Nui Landscapes of Construction Project Interim Reports 8|publisher=UCL Institute of Archaeology Rapa Nui Landscapes of Construction Project|year=2013|location=London}}</ref> by members of the UK Rapa Nui Landscapes of Construction Project<ref>{{Cite web|last=UCL|date=2019-01-22|title=Rapa Nui Landscapes of Construction|url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/archaeology/research/directory/rapa-nui-landscapes-construction|access-date=2021-03-29|website=Institute of Archaeology|language=en}}</ref> team.

The photo shown here is of the re-erected moai on Ahu Kote Riku, part of the Tahai ceremonial complex, not Ahu Tahai, and the topknot is not the original of Puna Pau red scoria, which is now in Hanga Roa cemetery, but a replacement made of red scoria from another location.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Claudio Cristino pers. comm.</ref>

==Brochure==
<gallery>
Image:Puna Pau brochure-2.jpg|Inside of park brochure for Puna Pau (in [[Spanish language|Spanish]])
Image:Puna Pau brochure-1.jpg|Outside of park brochure for Puna Pau (in English)
</gallery>

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Geography of Easter Island]]
[[Category:Cinder cones of Chile]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Easter Island]]
[[Category:Rock art of Oceania]]
[[Category:Quarries]]
[[Category:Moai]]
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