The issue of transporting monumental moai statues from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) has been debated for more than a century. Based on a systematic analysis of 962 moai focusing on 62 road statues, combined with 3D modeling and field experiments, Binghamton University Professor Carl Lipo and Dr. Terry Hunt of the University of Arizona demonstrated that small groups of ancient Rapa Nui people likely used rope and “walked” on the giant statues zigzag on carefully designed roads.
Carl P. Lipo and Terry L. Hunt used 3D modeling and field experiments to confirm that the ancient inhabitants of Rapa Nui “walked” on moai statues. Image credit: Carl Lipo.
Professor Lipo and his colleagues previously demonstrated using experimental data that the large statues “walked” from the quarry to the ceremonial platforms using a vertical rocking motion, challenging the theory that the statues were moved prone on wooden devices.
“Once you get it moving, it's not difficult at all – people pull with one hand. It saves energy and moves very quickly,” Professor Lipo said.
“The hardest part is getting it to swing. The question is, if it's really big, what will it take?”
“Are the things we've seen experimentally consistent with what we expect from a physics perspective?”
To study how the larger statue might move, Professor Lipo and Dr Hunt created high-resolution 3D models of the moai and identified distinctive design features – wide D-shaped bases and a forward tilt – that made them more likely to move in a swaying, zig-zag manner.
After testing their theory, they built a 4.35-ton replica of the moai with a distinctive forward-leaning design.
With just 18 people, they were able to transport the moai 100m in just 40 minutes, a marked improvement over previous vertical transport attempts.
“The physics makes sense,” said Professor Lipo.
“What we've seen experimentally really works. And as it gets bigger, it still works.”
“All the signs we see of giant objects moving become more and more consistent as they get bigger and bigger, because that becomes the only way they can move.”
This theory is confirmed by the roads of Rapa Nui.
The roads, 4.5 m wide and with a concave cross-section, were ideal for stabilizing the statues as they moved forward.
“Every time they move the statue, it looks like they are making a road. The road is part of moving the statue,” Professor Lipo said.
“We actually see them overlapping each other, as well as many parallel versions of them.”
“They probably clear a path, move it, clear another, clear it further and move it right in certain sequences.”
“So they spend a lot of time on the road.”
“Currently, nothing else explains how the moai were moved. The challenge for everyone else is to prove them wrong.”
“Find some evidence that he couldn't walk. Because nothing we've seen anywhere disproves that.”
“In fact, everything we have ever seen or thought about continues to strengthen this argument.”
“Our research also honors the people of Rapa Nui, who accomplished a monumental feat of engineering with limited resources.”
“It shows that the people of Rapa Nui were incredibly smart. They understood it.”
“They do it in a way that fits the resources they have.”
“So it really honors these people to say, look what they've been able to achieve, and we have a lot to learn from them in these principles.”
teams paper was published in Journal of Archaeological Science.
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Carl P. Lipo and Terry L. Hunt. 2025. The Walking Moai Hypothesis: Archaeological Evidence, Experimental Support, and a Response to Critics. Journal of Archaeological Science 183:106383; doi: 10.1016/j.jas.2025.106383
