Word: modi
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...reefs of Tahiti, Easter is the world's most isolated islet: a tiny (45.5 sq. mi.) blob of wind-scraped lava jutting from the gray Pacific like a roost for passing frigate birds. Yet on its stony surface, dozens of enormous statues, known in local dialect as modi, stand and stare. Some of them rear up to a height of 40 feet; many of them wear a subtle expression that presumably only sophisticated sculptors would attempt or could achieve; the best rank among the greatest sculptures of all time. What men produced these monsters? Where did these men come...
...Maziere's rough chronology began in the 13th century, the island was invaded by Polynesians who struggled for supremacy until, at the start of the third epoch, they succeeded in incinerating the yellow men in a volcanic ravine. In the third epoch, the Polynesians continued to make modi in a degenerate style, until the white man's diseases and depredations took the heart and the art out of their culture...
...Discoveries. By Maziere's not at all modest reckoning, his investigation generated two major discoveries. One was archaeology's first clue to the sacramental significance of the figures. After a careful survey of the slopes of Rano-Raraku volcano, where 193 modi are still standing (83 have fallen), Maziere was intrigued by the fact that each giant faces in a slightly different direction. Then an old islander informed him that "each modi looks at a part of the world over which he has power and for which he is answerable." The old name of the island, he reminded...
...made his second discovery when, with the assistance of the islanders, he dug three huge trenches in the rubbled slopes of Rano-Raraku. The largest of them was 48 ft. deep and 225 ft. long. At every level the diggers found modi stacked upon modi-Maziere believes that at least as many statues lie in the grainy earth of Easter Island as stand upon it. Some of the buried figures are the most massive yet found, and not a few preserve nuances of modeling that wind and weather have long since stripped from the giants on the headland. Unfortunately, before...
...Peace Corps" is not a Federal project, however, it could hardly be considered an alternative to the draft. And unless selective service requirements are either modi-be willing to join the "Peace Corps." The U.S. is entitled to service, yes. But it is absurd to ask those volunteering for three years of hard duty, at low pay, in a difficult environment to spend time in the Army upon return from the jungle. This is not a matter for argument: young men, except for a very few, simply...