Easter Island: enigma of the stone statues: according to modern science, the mysteries of Easter Island and its brooding statues have been solved. Alexander Henriksen and Matjaz Krivic visit this tiny speck in the Pacific and find that its riddles live on.(Cover Story) From: Geographical | Date: March 1, 2004| Author: Henriksen, Alexander; Krivic, Matjaz | COPYRIGHT 2004 Campion Interactive Publishing Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

The stench of horse dung greets photographer Matjaz Krivic and I as we leave Easter Island's tiny Mataveri air terminal. Dozens of neatly groomed and saddled steeds stand in the sizzling-hot airport car park, waiting to carry home locals returning to the world's most remote inhabited island. The closest neighbour to this 117-square-kilometre dot in the sea is Pitcairn Island, 1,800 kilometres away; the nearest mainland is Chile, 3,700 kilometres to the east.

We climb abo...