Lipo and Hunt's successful experiment to "walk" a Moai
Added 2019-06-29 15:23:27 +0000 UTCTerry Hunt and Carl Lipo began their archeological work on Easter Island in 2001 expecting to do no more than add details to the standard morality tale of the collapse of the island’s ecology and society, and to confirm that the statues were moved with wooden rollers. But the more they looked at the evidence, the more a completely different story emerged from the archaeology.
A 5-ton, 10-foot-high “starter moai” replica was made and shipped to Hawaii. After some fumbling around, 18 unskilled people secured three ropes around the top of the statue - one to each side for rocking the statue, one in the rear to keep it leaning forward without falling. They were thus able to "walk" the statue for a distance of nearly 100m.
Comments
I'm confused here, we were always taught that our Pavel Pavel moved the statues like this in 1981 in Czechia and in 1986 on the island with Heyerdahl. But it's not mentioned in the episode or the wiki page.
Jakub Zemen
2023-07-22 08:57:57 +0000 UTCAmazing footage... this must definitely be the method they used!
James Corbett
2020-02-24 19:18:00 +0000 UTCYes it's hard to visualise until you see it! Or unless you've ever had to move a large wardrobe...
Fall of Civilizations Podcast
2019-09-06 20:12:47 +0000 UTCOh wow, thank you for sharing! I couldn't quite picture it from the podcast, seeing it in action is really exciting.
Erika Moen
2019-09-06 20:00:52 +0000 UTC
