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The issue of water availability (or the lack of it) has often been mentioned by researchers who work on Rapa Nui/Easter Island, when we started to examine the details of the hydrology, we began to notice that freshwater access and statue location were tightly linked together. It wasnt obvious when walking around--with the water emerging at the coast during low tide, one doesnt necessarily see obvious indications of water. File photo - Statues at Anakena Beach, Easter Island, Chile. (Photo by Eric LAFFORGUE/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) Places without ahu/moai showed no freshwater, he added. The pattern was striking and surprising in how consistent it was. Researchers had already identified groundwater discharge in coastal areas as a key factor in the statues placement on Easter Islands coast. In the latest stage of the research, experts examined how the availability of freshwater in certain areas was linked to the methods and means of building the statues. EASTER ISLANDS ANCIENT CIVILIZATION WAS NOT DESTROYED BY WARFARE, EXPERTS SAY Around 900 statues, or moai, are dotted around Easter Island. Circa 1955: Two ancient statues of uncertain origin on Easter Island, in the South Pacific Ocean. (Photo by Richard Harrington/Three Lions/Getty Images).