Scientists uncover new Easter Island moai statue in dry lake bed

FILE PHOTO: Horses graze next to the the Moais at Ahu Tongariki archaeological site in Rapa Nui, Easter Island, Chile November 15, 2022. REUTERS/Pablo Sanhueza

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Scientists have found a previously undiscovered moai on Easter Island, uncovering the large stone statue in a dry lake bed on the tiny, remote island in the middle of the Pacific.

Geologists were studying the site after fires swept through the area last year. It could mean more figures and tools used by the ancestral Rapa Nui people are buried nearby in the once-underwater site, scientists said.