{"id":200605,"date":"2025-10-09T17:13:19","date_gmt":"2025-10-09T17:13:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/200605\/"},"modified":"2025-10-09T17:13:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-09T17:13:19","slug":"scientists-just-solved-one-of-the-most-enduring-mysteries-of-the-easter-island-statues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/200605\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Just Solved One of the Most Enduring Mysteries of the Easter Island Statues"},"content":{"rendered":"

The moai statues of Easter Island have long presented an enigma<\/a> for researchers wondering how the ancient Rapa Nui people managed to move these enormous monoliths around the island. And now, a team of anthropologists believes they may finally have the answer\u2014by way of some rather bizarre physics experiments.<\/p>\n

In a recent Journal of Archaeological Science<\/a> paper, anthropologists Carl Lipo and Terry Hunt analyzed 962 moai statues, creating detailed, high-resolution 3D models to investigate their design and how they might have been transported.<\/p>\n

From there, they devised an experiment to test whether a a moai could \u201cwalk\u201d from a quarry to its ceremonial platform, a theory they actually tested in the field.<\/p>\n

\"MoaiResearchers confirmed via 3D modeling and field experiments that the ancient people of Rapa Nui \u201cwalked\u201d the iconic moai statues. Credit: Carl Lipo\/Binghamton University <\/p>\n

They found that, by using ropes, teams of people could coax the statues to waddle in a zig-zag motion: just 18 people could \u201cwalk\u201d a 4.35-ton replica moai for about 330 feet (100 meters) in just 40 minutes. The demonstration, they argued, refutes previous theories that the Rapa Nui used wooden transport devices to move their statues, or, even wilder, that they are the relics of alien civilizations.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have spun all kinds of tales about stuff that\u2019s plausible or possible in some way,\u201d Carl Lipo, study lead author and an anthropologist at Binghamton University, said in a statement<\/a>. \u201cBut they never go about evaluating the evidence to show that, in fact, you can learn about the past and explain the record that you see in ways that are fully scientific.\u201d<\/p>\n

The genius in the details <\/p>\n

When creating 3D models of the moai, the researchers identified several design features that may have made the statues conducive to transportation. Specifically, they noted that the statues tended to have a wide D-shaped base and a forward lean (perhaps a product of their large, charming noses). They decided that using an \u201cupright, rocking\u201d motion would be the easiest way to get the statues \u201cwalking,\u201d according to the paper.<\/p>\n

\"MoaiA 3D model of moai, which the researchers used to determine the unique characteristics that made them able to be \u201cwalked\u201d across Rapa Nui. Credit: Carl Lipo. <\/p>\n

The roads of Rapa Nui also support this hypothesis, the researchers added. These roads, about 15 feet (4.5 meters) wide with concave cross-sections, appear \u201cpurposefully engineered rather than incidental,\u201d meaning they were likely built specifically to help keep the moai stable during their \u201cwalks,\u201d the anthropologists explained.<\/p>\n

But the archeological evidence also suggests that the moai themselves may have terraformed the roads, creating more bumps and dents in the road for subsequent moai statues to follow. \u201cThis engineering feature transforms what might otherwise be unpredictable movement across rough terrain into a controlled, directed progression along a prepared pathway,\u201d the paper noted.<\/p>\n

\"MoaiA diagram illustrating the \u201cwalking\u201d technique whereby moai were moved along prepared roads through alternating lateral rope pulls while maintaining a forward lean of 5\u201315\u00b0 from vertical. Credit: Carl Lipo <\/p>\n

\u201cThe physics makes sense,\u201d said Lipo. \u201cWhat we saw experimentally actually works\u2026 Every time they\u2019re moving a statue, it looks like they\u2019re making a road. The road is part of moving the statue. We actually see them overlapping each other and many parallel versions of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Case closed? <\/p>\n

The debate over the \u201ccorrect\u201d explanation for moai transportation is a surprisingly heated one, and a section of the paper is entirely dedicated to rejecting alternative explanations.<\/p>\n

However, the researchers argue that their \u201cwalking moai hypothesis\u201d also aligns with Rapa Nui oral traditions and songs that have described the moai as \u201cwalking\u201d from the quarry. If the new theory is correct, it may be reflective of the songs of these ancient engineers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows that the Rapa Nui people were incredibly smart. They figured this out,\u201d said Lipo. \u201cThey\u2019re doing it the way that\u2019s consistent with the resources they have. So it really gives honor to those people, saying, look at what they were able to achieve, and we have a lot to learn from them in these principles.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The moai statues of Easter Island have long presented an enigma for researchers wondering how the ancient Rapa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":200606,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[21230,11419,49,48,98878,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-200605","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-anthropology","9":"tag-archaeology","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-easter-island","13":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200605","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200605"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200605\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200606"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}