Easter Island Red Hats Mystery Finally Solved in Puna Pau Quarry

Dear Sirs; 0 false 21 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Tabla normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0cm; mso-para-margin-right:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0cm; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}   I have read with great interest the news you have published about the discovery carried out by Dr.Colin Richards and Dr. Sue Hamilton in your article that refers to Easter Island Maunga Hitirau quarry. . Unfortunately the information published has some errors, that could compromise the future work of these distinguished scientists in Easter Island. Everyone knows that the red scoria cylinders that were later carved into the statue hats were quarried in Maunga Hitirau (now called Punapau) crater, a small cinder cone located behind the village of Hangaroa, rolled across the island on the same roads upon which the statues were transported and later, once they arrived to the site, they were carved into hats and other ornaments used in their altars. Therefore hats were never transported, but the raw material from which they were carved.  The cinder cone crater named today Punapau quarry, has been a tourist attraction since last century, so this is not a discovery as stated. I was able to visit their interesting excavation and what they cleared was a cylinder of raw material not a hat We do not know exactly how the hats were raised upon the statue heads but we suppose today that they were attached to the heads of the statues when they were lying upon an inclined ramp used to raise them, and then raised together. On the other hand we know very well their meaning, as the ceremonies related to them were still remembered in the island's oral traditions until the late 1960s and recorded by myself and by Mrs. Katherine Routledge in 1914.And this is very interesting because little has been published about their function. The hats are named "Hau Hitirau Mo'ai" that means "Hat to make the sweet potato vines sprout." During the month of April, the chiefs of the different districts would have their assistants collect pebbles from the ocean floor that were covered by a calcareous algy. As these pebbled rolled with wave action they had a round aspect similar to a small canon ball. These were placed upon the statues hats and left there until May - June, that was the time when the sweet potato vines were planted in the fields. During this time, it was believed that these calcareous pebbles by being in contact with the divine ancestral forces concentrated in these hats, became "Karakama" or sacred stones imbeded with fertility. Then the time came to plant the vines, they collecter them in basquets and they were carried to the highest hill in each territory where the chiefs of the different lineages, dressed in a cloak of dried banana leaves and using their best feather headdresses would pray to god Hiro their "Rain god". Once it had rained, and the "Karakama" got wetted by the rain drops it was carried back to the altar, from where the chiefs would distribute them to the different lineages extended families, and then send their assistants to bury one of these stones in each of their sweet potato plantations. Thus the fertility of the deified ancestor, represented by the statue, was transfered to the soil, assuring a good crop. The Spanish Expedition to Easter Island led by Felipe Gonzales y Haedo, were able to see these pebbles lying upon the hats in several altars located on the north coast of the island in 1770, and still lay scattered upon the altars in proximity to the toppled statues and their hats. The problem today, is that the errors reported in this articule have made the islander's angry, and these distinguished scientists look ignorant of their work, because hats were never rolled across the island but instead the raw material used in there manufacture, and the purpose of these hats is known by their oral traditions and historical evidence. Sincerelly yours Edmundo Edwards Archaeologist Eastern Pacific Research Foundation Easter Island, Chile