By Miranda Aldersley For Mailonline
Published: 09:52 BST, 22 May 2019 | Updated: 10:45 BST, 22 May 2019
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Archaeologist Jo Anne Van Tilburg has worked on Easter Island for decades - studying the famous moai statues and the living descendants of their creators
An archaeologist has warned that Easter Island is under threat from selfie-loving tourists who trample over sacred ground and monuments just so they can take photographs of themselves picking the noses of its ancient stone statues.
Jo Anne Van Tilburg, from the University of California Los Angeles, attacked the insensitive and disrespectful behaviour of the visitors who flock to visit the moai - famous stone monuments carved between 1100 and 1400 AD.
Van Tilburg told Newsweek that the locals are struggling to cope with an influx of tourism, which saw some 150,000 people visit the remote Chilean territory last year.
This is compared to around 2,500 yearly visitors in the early 1980s. The island, also known as Rapa Nui, only has around 5,700 permanent residents.
'By Rapa Nui standards, on an island where electricity is provided by a generator, water is precious and depleted, and all the infrastructure is stressed, 150,000 is a mob,' she said. But even more disheartening are the actions of some of the tourists during their visit.
'Tourism of the sort experienced today has a very negative impact on the Rapa Nui sense of community,' Van Tilburg said.
People 'climb on the moai, trample preserved spaces and sit on top of graves.
Van Tilburg said many visitors to the island seem more interested in taking selfies picking the statues' noses (above) than learning about its history and culture
People 'climb on the moai, trample preserved spaces and sit on top of graves,' in service of getting the right selfie, Van Tilburg said
And they do so with just one aim - to line up the perfect angle for a selfie, often showing the travellers picking the noses of the moai, Van Tilburg said.
This is problematic not only because it risks damaging the moai - which are already naturally deteriorating having stood for centuries - but also it disrespects the sacred sculptures.
