Easter Island’s Moai Statues May Have Reached Their Current Locations

Easter Island Statues, Traditionally known as moai on the remote island of Rapa Nui in the South Pacific, they are among the most impressive artifacts of ancient Polynesian civilization. How the statues were transported has long remained an enigma, as they can weigh up to several tons and yet they are scattered throughout the island. Various theories have been proposed, including that they were dragged on wooden sleds or rolled across the ground, but no supporting evidence has supported these claims.

In 2012, an American research team managed to prop up a 4.35-ton replica of a moai statue and make it “walk.” The technique, in which two teams using ropes pulled the statue in opposite directions to tip it forward while a third team ensured it would not tip, challenged conventional theories that the moai were moved in a horizontal position.

The question then becomes how much effort it would have taken to move much larger moai. “Once the moai are moving, it’s not difficult at all,” says Carl Lipo, an anthropologist at Binghamton University.

Lipo and his team systematically studied 962 moai statues on Easter Island, focusing primarily on 62 found along ancient roads. They recently published a paper providing strong evidence that moai were transported in an upright position.

The team also managed to move an exact replica of a roadside moai 100 meters in 40 minutes with just 18 people, a much more efficient result than previous experiments.

Road rules

The study found that moai statues positioned along Rapa Nui’s roads have common characteristics. The broad D-shaped base and forward-leaning design of the statues optimized the moai for “walking”, even as they increased in size. In fact, abandoned roadside moai had unbalanced centers of gravity and showed signs of tipping during transport.

This hypothesis is also supported by the ancient roads themselves, which are approximately 4.5 meters wide and have slightly concave cross sections. Researchers believe these conditions were ideal for helping stabilize the moai as they walked.

A statistical analysis of the distribution of the moai showed that 51.6 percent were concentrated within a 2 km radius of the quarry from which they came, demonstrating a pattern of exponential decay associated with mechanical failure rather than deliberate ceremonial placement. It is likely that these statues were damaged or fell during transport and left where they lay.