Turns out, the heads of Easter Island didn\u2019t just sit there \u2014 they strutted their stuff.<\/p>\n
After centuries of speculation about how the island\u2019s ancient people managed to move nearly 1,000 colossal stone statues<\/a> \u2014 each weighing up to 80 tons \u2014 across miles of rugged terrain, scientists say they\u2019ve cracked the code.<\/p>\n The answer? The statues walked themselves there.<\/p>\n Using a mix of physics, 3D modeling and some prehistoric ingenuity, researchers at Binghamton University and the University of Arizona confirmed that the island\u2019s iconic moai statues<\/a> didn\u2019t need aliens, magic or massive manpower to move \u2014 just a few ropes and some rhythm.<\/p>\n New findings suggest that the moai statues of Easter Island weren\u2019t dragged, but \u201cwalked\u201d across Easter Island to their new ceremonial home. BinghamtonUniversity<\/p>\n \u201cOnce you get it moving, it isn\u2019t hard at all \u2014 people are pulling with one arm,\u201d said Binghamton University anthropology professor Carl Lipo, co-author of the new study<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt conserves energy, and it moves really quickly. The hard part is getting it rocking in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n Their findings line up perfectly with Rapa Nui oral traditions, which have long claimed the statues literally walked from the quarry where they were carved to their final resting places up to 10 miles away.<\/p>\n Lipo and co-researcher Terry Hunt studied nearly 1,000 moai and discovered that their curious design<\/a> wasn\u2019t accidental. <\/p>\n The statues\u2019 wide, D-shaped bases and slight forward lean made them more likely to wobble their way forward in a side-to-side rocking motion \u2014 like a massive, 4-ton conga line.<\/p>\n The new study backs up ancient tales by the Rapa Nui people, who claimed that the massive stones walked to their new home before being carved with the moai visage. BinghamtonUniversity<\/p>\n \u201cThe physics makes sense,\u201d Lipo explained. \u201cWhat we saw experimentally actually works. And as it gets bigger, it still works. All the attributes that we see about moving gigantic ones only get more and more consistent the bigger and bigger they get, because it becomes the only way you could move it.\u201d<\/p>\n To put their theory to the test, the team built a 4.35-ton replica moai with that signature forward lean. <\/p>\n With just 18 people and a handful of ropes, they \u201cwalked\u201d the statue 100 meters in 40 minutes \u2014 far faster and easier than dragging it flat on its back.<\/p>\n The 80-ton statues were moved 10 miles from a quarry to the current site as early as 1,100 A.D. AP<\/p>\n The evidence doesn\u2019t stop there. Easter Island\u2019s mysterious network of \u201cmoai roads,\u201d long thought to be ceremonial, now appears to have been functional \u2014 built specifically to guide the walking giants to their platforms, or ahu.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery time they\u2019re moving a statue, it looks like they\u2019re making a road. The road is part of moving the statue,\u201d Lipo said.<\/p>\n These roads, roughly 15 feet wide and slightly concave, acted like ancient conveyor belts \u2014 steadying the statues as they swayed forward in a zig-zag motion.<\/p>\n Previous theories suggested the giant rocks were set upon a track of wood planks and dragged across the island. AP<\/p>\n