So, we’ve just moved past the Easter holiday and one thing we can’t get out of our minds is Easter Island. Ok, so the two really have nothing to do with each other in the scope of things, but we couldn’t help it. We wanted to take a look at one of the most intriguing mysteries known – how exactly did those huge statues get to where they are now?
Historians have been asking the questions for years – how were the Easter Island statues moved? In historic documents and interviews with village elders, we keep seeing that people claimed that the statues weren’t moved to their location, they walked. Modern academics believe that this “walking” was actually the statues being moved in the upright position.
In recent years, several experiments have been conducted to see how those iconic statues were moved. One experiment actually proved that they could have been moved by rocking and rolling their base along – just like we might move a large fridge or couch – but it is likely that this would have caused a lot of damage to the statue.
Some experts believe that the Easter Island statues were just too big to move. But others tend to disagree. That’s why there has been so much debate. In an additional experiment, scientists moved replicas of the statues by placing them on two logs and wooden rollers. Though it took 25 men and 45 minutes, they were actually moved quite easily.
Lastly, a more recent study of the mystery used computers to analyze the situation. Through this analysis, scientists now believe that the statues were set upon a series of logs and rolled along from where the statues were carved to where they rest today. Of course, no experiment has proven that it was the correct method – it is just another theory!
Katie Steil
