Rapa Nui's Famous Moai Statues Really May Have 'Walked' Into Place

How the Statues of Easter Island Walked Into Place

Carved from volcanic rock, the mysterious statues of Easter Island—the moai—have loomed large in imaginations for centuries. The provenance of these massive stone sentinels has long been the subject of outlandish theories, including extraterrestrial transporters and artisans from long-lost civilizations. But some archaeologists have focused on a logistical question: How did these multi-ton giants get to their final resting places from the quarry…

Rapa Nui's Famous Moai Statues Really May Have 'Walked' Into Place

The ancient Polynesians who settled the island of Rapa Nui – formerly known as Easter Island – may have worked out an ingenious way to make their iconic moai statues 'walk'.

Easter Islanders Always Said Their Moai Statues Walked To Their Places. New Research Says It’s Probably True.

That’s not to say, mind you, that the moai walked by themselves. A new paper published by two archaeologists lays out, through observation and experiment, how the Rapa Nui people likely rigged up the moai and walked them from the quarry to their platforms. – Artnet

The Giant Stone Statues of Easter Island Really Did 'Walk' » Explorersweb

For centuries, the giant stone statues on Easter Island, known as moai, have fascinated the world. The colossal human figures, some up to 10 meters high and weighing 86 metric tonnes, have had both scientists and the general public asking the same question: How did the Rapa Nui people move them into position? Crafted between 1250 and 1500 CE, nearly 900 moai were carved and placed across the island. How they were constructed and transported was …