Moai de Rapa Nui statues, Easter Island
The monumental statues of Rapa Nui “walked”, with a zigzag pattern, along carefully planned roads – with the help of some strings and surprisingly few people, concludes a new study. After starting to move it, it’s not difficult …
For years, the researchers tried to unravel the puzzle of how the former inhabitants of Rapa Nui managed to perform the apparently impossible: Move the iconic Moai statues.
Using a combination of physics, 3D modeling techniques, and practical terrain experiences, a team led by researchers at New York State University (Suny) confirmed that statues “walked” – With the help of some strings and surprisingly few people.
When studying about a thousand Moai, Carl Lipoteacher of anthropology at Suny, and Terry Huntresearcher at the University of Arizona, concluded that the inhabitants of the used ropes to “make walking” the gigantic statues, moving them in a Zigzag Standard along carefully planned roads.
Lipo and his colleagues had already demonstrated experimentally that the great statues “They walked from the quarry to ceremonial platformsnum vertical and oscillating movementcontrary to the theory that they would be transported lying on wooden devices.
The results of the were presented in an article published this Wednesday in Journal of Archaeological Science.
“After starting to move it, it’s not difficult – People pull only one arm. It is efficient in terms of energy And moves quickly, ”Lipo explained in one from Suny.
“The difficult part is to shake it initially. The question is: if it is too large, what is necessary? And is what we observed experimentally consistent with what would we expect from the point of view of physics? ”Asks the researcher.
To realize how a larger statue could move, the Lipo team created Moai’s high resolution 3D models and identified distinctive characteristics in its design – wide bases in the shape of “D” and a front slope – which would facilitate the oscillating movement in zigzag.
To test the theory, the researchers built a replica of Moai with 4.35 tons and with this frontal slope.
With only 18 people, they managed to transport it 100 meters In just 40 minutes, significant progress over previous vertical transport attempts.
“Physics makes sense”Said Lipo.“ What we observed experimentally really results. AND The higher the statues, the more coherent the process becomes. All the characteristics we see associated with the transport of the most gigantic are increasingly consistent because it becomes the only possible way to move them. ”
As Rapa Nui roads also reinforce this theory. With about 4.5 meters wide and a concave section, they were ideal for stabilizing the statues during the movement. “Every time they move a statue, they seem to build a road. The road is part of the transport process”Explained Lipo.
“We can see the roads overlapping each other, and many of them in parallel. Probably What they did was make the way, move the statueopen another section, and so on in sequence. They spent a lot of time on this part of the road construction, ”adds the investigator.
According to lipo, There is currently no other explanation that justify in a convincing way as the Moai were moved. The challenge, he said, is that someone proves otherwise.
“Find some evidence that shows that I couldn’t walk. Because nothing we have seen so far deny it, ”he said.“ On the contrary, everything we discovered continues to reinforce the argument. ”
Carl Lipo points out that Rapa is known for extravagant theories who do not have any factual base, and that this research is an example of a true scientific test to a hypothesis.
“A lot of people invented all kinds of more or less plausible storiesbut without seeking to evaluate the evidence. In fact, it is possible to understand the past and explain what is observed in a scientific way. One of the steps is simply to say: See, we can build an answer here”He concludes.
