If Rapa Nui’s mo’ai statues are emblematic of the island, then their top knots (pukao in Rapa Nui) probably fall under the category of “ornamental curiosity.” A later addition to the mo’ai construction process, there are only about 100 of the cylindrical hats found on the island compared to almost 1,000 mo’ai. Carved out of a relatively soft red volcanic rock (scoria), they could weigh up to ten tons and varied from six to ten feet in diameter. I made a brief visit to this quarry that they originated from on my second day of my island tour. The area is fairly small and consists of a walking path from the parking lot up to the apex of a small hill, where you can also see down into the crater where the majority of the carving took place. We spent less than an hour at this compact site. In summary, while the top knots themselves were a bit underwhelming the visit here did give me an insight into the complete construction process of the mo’ai and their evolution from shorter, simple statues to those that continually grew in size and became more ornate. Additionally, the view of Hanga Roa from the top of the small hill was the most impressive of the trip. I still remember watching the cloud formations move over my hotel while my guide described the different theories of the final carving of the knots and the ideas of how they were lifted on the heads of the statue. This is definitely an "upper second-tier sight" if that makes sense and a reasonable follow-up after a visit to Rano Raraku.

The place where pukaos were produced. It is part of the national park and its visit is only possible with a ticket and a guide. A short walk to the top of the mountain, learning a little about the history of the people, the manufacturing process and the mysteries of transport.

This place is famous for its special red volcanic rocks used to make Moai's hats on Easter Island The tour guide says these hats are actually hair, the Aborigines on Easter Island and their leaders are red hair A circular or orange-shaped stone carved from a local red volcanic rock, usually placed on the head of a Moai statue, symbolizing the identity, position or power of a person These stone hats usually make Moai look more noble, and their sizes and styles vary by status and period

Puna Pau is an ancient quarry where the Rapa Nui people mined the red scoria used to make the pukao, those hat-like cylindrical blocks which represented not hats but hair style according to our guide. Except the man-made crater (result of the mining) and a few abandoned blocks of scoria there's not much to see there. The views are good though