When the Dutch landed on Easter Island in 1772, they discovered over 500 gigantic stone carvings of men's heads, between 10 and 40ft high. However, when the Dutch enslaved the Polynesian people in 1862, they slaughtered its priests and kings and were consequently unable to decipher the instructions on wooden tablets that they discovered. Recent research has shown that the statues- thought to be cult objects (possibly deifications of dead people)- were erected between AD 1000 and 1600. The fact that there are many unfinished and toppled statues on the island indicates that the cult was ended suddenly by a brutal civil war. Some traditions record such a war, in which the 'Short Ears' overthrew their warlords, the 'Long Ears', together with their statues.