Rano Raraku is the volcanic crater quarry on Easter Island where most moai were carved.
Located on the lower slopes of Terevaka in Rapa Nui National Park, Rano Raraku is made of consolidated volcanic ash called tuff. The stone was relatively workable for carving, and the quarry supplied material for about 95% of the island’s known monumental statues. The Rapa Nui people carved the moai mainly between about 1250 and 1500.
Hundreds of statues remain at or near the quarry, including unfinished figures still attached to the volcanic rock. The largest incomplete moai is around 21.6 metres long and may have weighed roughly 270 tonnes. These abandoned-looking statues do not necessarily prove that the island’s society suddenly collapsed: some may have been deliberately left unfinished or designed to remain part of the rock.
Rano Raraku is often confused with Rano Kau, another major volcanic crater on Easter Island. Rano Kau is associated with a large crater lake and the ceremonial village of Orongo; it was not the principal moai quarry.