Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
The transportation of the colossal moai on Easter Island has been one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in history for archaeologists. For years, how they appeared along the coast has been a real puzzle for researchers, who now have a new hypothesis.
After studying almost a thousand moai, anthropologists Carl Lipo from Binghamton University (USA) and Terry Hunt from the University of Arizona concluded that the ancient residents of Rapa Nui, as the island is also known, used a rope and moved the famous monolithic statues in a zigzag pattern along carefully designed paths.
Unlike other far-fetched theories on the matter, which have not been supported by any evidence, this latest one is supported by a real experiment, and the researchers challenge the scientific community to prove them wrong.
Lipo and his colleagues demonstrated that the moai 'walked' to the ceremonial platforms with an oscillating movement in an upright position, casting doubt on the theory that the statues arrived at the designated locations by lying on logs that rolled them across the ground.
The scientists created high-resolution 3D models of the moai and calculated that their wide D-shaped bases and a forward tilt would make it more likely for them to be moved in a zigzag pattern. To test their theory, the team built a replica of a 4.35-ton moai with the same distinctive forward-tilting design.
With just 18 people, they managed to move the moai about 100 meters in just 40 minutes. "The physics makes sense," Lipo explained. "What we observed experimentally really works. And as the size increases, it continues to work. All the characteristics we observed in the movement of the giant moai only become more consistent as they increase in size, because this becomes the only way you could move them," he reasoned.
In their study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, the scientists add that Easter Island's paths—15 feet wide and with a concave cross section—were ideal for stabilizing the statues as they were moved.
"Find some evidence that shows it couldn't be walked on. Because nothing we've seen anywhere disproves that. In fact, everything we've seen and thought about continues to reinforce the argument," Lipo said. (Text and photo: RT)
