Rollerblades, wooden carts and even alien life are just some of the theories about how humans moved Famous moai statues on Easter Island (also called Rapa Nui). Weighing approximately 130,000 pounds and standing 32 feet tall, these statues somehow traveled some 11 miles from the volcanic quarries where they were transported to their final positions, over hilly terrain – all without modern technology. technology.
Now, using 3D modeling and field experiments from archaeologists and anthropologists, we may finally have an answer. According to scientists, the giant statues were moved using ropes and “walking” along specially designed roads.study recently published in Journal of Archaeological Science.
“This shows that the Rapa Nui people were incredibly smart. They figured it out,” study co-author and Binghamton University anthropologist Carl Lipo said. says the statement. “They're doing it according to the resources they have. So it's really a credit to these people to say, look what they've been able to achieve, and we have a lot to learn from them in these principles.”
Field experiments showed that with the help of a rope and a small group of people, the inhabitants of Rapa Nui could “walk” over the moai statues. CREDIT: Carl Lipo
What are moai statues?
Rap Nui's moai statues are massive megaliths built built by the Rapa Nui people around 1400–1650 AD.. Most people know them as Easter Island heads, but these heads actually have full bodies.
There are about 1000 of these huge statues. ABOUT 95 percent of which were carved from tuff thrown out from Rano Raraku volcano. Tuff is compressed volcanic ash and was easily carved using stone tools called tokis available at the time.
Moai statues were built to honor chiefs and other important people who died. The statues were placed on rectangular stone platforms called ahu, which served as tombs. Originally, moai were made with different characteristics to convey the appearance of the deceased.
“Physics makes sense”
In this new research The team tested approximately 1,000 moai statues. Same team previously showed that the vertical rocking movement allowed the large statues to “transition” from the volcanic quarry to the ceremonial platforms.
“Once you get it moving, it's not difficult at all – people pull with one hand. It saves energy and moves very quickly,” Lipo said. “The hardest part is getting it to swing. The question is, if it's really big, what would it take? Are the things we've seen experimentally consistent with what we expect from a physics perspective?”
To see how a larger statue might move, the team created High resolution 3D moai models. In these models, they identified distinctive design features including wide D-shaped bases and a forward slope. These bases will make them more likely to wiggle and zigzag.
They then built a 4.35-ton replica of the moai with a distinctive forward tilt to test this theory. They were able to move the moai approximately 328 feet in 40 minutes with a team of only 18 people.
“The physics makes sense,” Lipo said. “What we've seen experimentally actually works. And as the object gets bigger, it still works. All the attributes that we see in moving giant objects become more and more consistent as they get bigger and bigger, because that becomes the only way to move them.”
Passing the road test
The roads of Rapa Nui also support this new theory. Approximately 14 feet wide, concave cross section.These roads were ideal for stabilizing the statues as they moved.
“Every time they move the statue, it's like they're making a road. The road is part of moving the statue,” Lipo said. “We actually see them overlapping each other and multiple parallel versions of them. They're probably clearing a path, moving it, clearing another, clearing it further and moving it right in sequences. So they spend a lot of time on a stretch of road.”
According to the teamThere are no other real theories that could explain how the moai were moved. Rapa Nui is known for its wild theories without any evidence, and the team worked to test the real theory.
“People tell all sorts of stories about things that are somehow plausible or possible, but they never begin to evaluate the evidence to show that you can actually learn about the past and explain the records you see in completely scientific ways,” Lipo said. “One step is to just say, 'Look, we can find the answer here.'
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