Archaeologists Believed Every Statue on This Island Had Been Found, Until One Emerged from a Lakebed

For years, researchers believed the island’s statue record was complete, then a drought exposed one no one had ever documented.

Published on February 22, 2026 at 08:15
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Sarah Jones
Written by Sarah Jones
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Reading time : 2 minutes



A hidden statue has been revealed in the dried bed of a lake on Rapa Nui, surprising researchers who thought the island’s statues were fully documented. More than 1,000 moai have been located and logged across Easter Island, most carved from volcanic tuff, a rock formed from compressed ash and dust. For years, specialists assumed the archaeological record was largely complete.

The newly uncovered statue challenges that assumption. Its presence in a former lakebed adds an unexpected chapter to the long study of these monumental figures created by the Rapa Nui people.

A First in a Former Lake

The find was identified in the dry basin of a lake near a statue quarry. According to Good Morning America, Terry Hunt, professor of archaeology at the University of Arizona, stressed the unprecedented nature of the find.



Moai statue emerges from cracked mud in a dried lake on Easter Island. Credit: AFP: Ma’u Henua Indigenous Community

Dry Conditions Lift Nature’s Veil

The discovery was made possible by ongoing dry conditions that exposed the lake floor. The area had long been covered by tall reeds, which obscured what lay beneath. In the same report, Hunt explained that subsurface detection tools might reveal more figures concealed within the lakebed sediments.

More:
https://dailygalaxy.com/2026/02/new-statue-emerges-from-lakebed/