The origin of the famous Moai statues on Easter Island remains one of the largest archaeological enigmas. Now, scientists claim that they have unraveled one of the key pieces of this mystery.
These statues sing between 12 and 80 tons. Scientists have long wondered how the ancient civilization of the island could transport them.
Due to the modeling of 3D and real experiments, scientists confirmed that the statues practically “went” to the place of destination. Anthropologists found that Rapa inhabitants probably used ropes to balance statues on a zigzag trajectory, reports Noi.md with reference to
This technique consisted of attaching ropes on both sides of the head of each statue, after which they were drawn back and forth, swinging from one side to another. Thus the Moai statues were transported to the destination.
With a team of 18 people, the researchers managed to move similar statues over a distance of 100 meters in just 40 minutes. It is much faster than in previous attempts.
The researchers claim that this is an extremely important proof that the largest Maiai heads had to be moved by “walking”. These new scientific data are in accordance with even the oral traditions of the island, which describe how the heads “went” from the career where they were made to their final places.
