Ahu (English spelling)

Japanese: アフ（英語表記）Ahu

A structure found at a ritual site on Easter Island in eastern Polynesia. Many of the ahu are rectangular platforms with overhangs on both sides. T. Heyerdahl's team investigated the Vinapu ruins in the southeast of the island and found that in the Early Period, the altars were simply altars with no stone statues on top, with huge stones piled up inside and stones and soil placed inside, with the stone wall on the seaward side being higher and a paved ramp on the landward side. In the Middle Period, ahu had a stone statue on top, facing inland. From the Middle Period onwards, there were cases of people being buried inside, and in the Late Period, the stone statues were toppled and the ahu were mainly used as cemeteries. The Middle Period is estimated to have been around 1100-1680.

Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia About Encyclopaedia Britannica Concise Encyclopedia Information

Japanese:

東ポリネシア，イースター島の祭祀遺跡にある構築物。長方形の壇で両袖に張出し部をもつものも多い。 T.ヘイエルダール隊は島の南東部のビナプ遺跡などを調査したが，その結果，前期には単なる祭壇で上に石像はなく，巨大な石を積んだ内側に石や土を入れており，海側の石壁が高く陸側には舗装された斜道がついている。中期には上に石像が載り，像は内陸を向いて立っていた。中期以降，アフの中に人を埋葬する例があり，後期には石像は倒され主として墓地として用いられた。年代は中期が 1100～1680年頃とされる。

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