The mystery of easter’s island giants and their acromegalyc facies

The monolithic moai statues on Easter Island were built between 1100 and 1500 AD. All the Easter Island giants (approximately 1000) share some peculiar traits of their body parts, more precisely of the acral areas of the body: elongated nose, prominent eyebrows, broad chin, long and thin fingers, thin and pursed lips. Over the years, different interpretations of their features have been described. Firstly, the disfiguring disease of leprosy, which has been endemic on Easter Island from ninth century, might have constituted a shock for the settlers. For this reason, they may have created these stone giants who represent indestructible strength of those specific body parts, which are usually damaged by leprosy. A differential diagnosis for a disorder involving the acral areas of the body would be acromegaly, a systemic disease produced by excessive secretion of growth hormone. The French physician Chalivet formulated this hypothesis in 1935. In fact, adult patients with acromegaly have a large lower jaw and prominent forehead, which look like the ones of Moai statues. Finally, many archaeologists believe they represent the spirits of ancestors or high-ranking males who held important positions. In conclusion, we cannot exclude any of these hypotheses: the monolithic moai statues on Easter Island have been and will always be shrouded in mystery.