What material were most of the moai statues on Rapa Nui carved from?

Most of the moai statues on Rapa Nui were carved from volcanic tuff.

Rapa Nui, also called Easter Island, is famous for its monumental human figures, known as moai. Most were carved from consolidated volcanic ash, or tuff, quarried at Rano Raraku, a volcanic crater on the island. The material was comparatively workable with stone tools before hardening at the surface.

The statues were made by Rapa Nui communities between roughly the 13th and 16th centuries. Many were transported from the quarry and placed on ceremonial stone platforms called ahu, generally facing inland toward communities rather than out to sea. Their exact meanings varied, but they are widely understood to represent important ancestors or chiefly figures.

Not every moai used the same stone. Some examples were made from basalt, red scoria, or other materials, and the famous eyes were assembled separately. The common claim that every statue was toppled by a single environmental catastrophe is also too simple; different statues fell at different times for social, political, and later historical reasons.