Easter Island: Mystery of Easter Island Isolated on a tiny volcanic island in the midst of the Pacific Ocean, without advanced engineering skills or construction machinery, a mysterious people managed to populate their island with huge, monolithic stone statues. These 80-ton carvings, with 12-ton ""top knots,"" were somehow transported several miles across the island and arranged in rows on raised platforms. How were they moved? How were they raised? And most puzzling of all, why?