It is located in an area called Polynesia, which is an area of water formed by a triangle of water with New Zealand, Easter Island and Hawaii being the three corners. Evidently, the moai were built on top of a burial site where the island's people were buried. There are over 800 moai on the island and all, but one, are standing facing with their backs to the ocean. There are larger ones in the rock quarry where they were chiseled out of stone, but the moai were never completed and placed on the island. Out of the 800 moai on the island all were placed in the standing position except one.
Archeologists are people that study ancient civilizations.
One hypothesis is that the moais were statues of ancestors who had died and this was a way of honoring them. There are usually bones underneath the ahu and it may be that people were sacrificed for the gods in which they believed. Archeologists have not been able to find out a lot of information about the lives of the people and their culture. One reason is that there was very little information written down. Writing was done on a wooden tablet and these did not last well over time.