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Seen October 2nd, 2015
Posted October 2nd, 2015
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11.9 Years
Greetings PC members, and today I bring an interesting article of news.

According to National Geographic, the Moai statues that lay scattered across the beautiful Polynesian island may have been "walked" to their final resting places.




Researchers "walk" a replica of Easter Island's famous statues (Sheela Sharma/National Geographic)
Were the giant statues on Easter Island actually "walked" to their final resting spots?
Researchers have unveiled a new theory that may redefine the historical understanding of how natives on Easter Island transported the iconic moai statues.
Writing in July's issue of National Geographic magazine, California State University at Long Beach archeologist Carl Lipo and Hawaii anthropologist Terry Hunt postulate that Polynesian natives used a system of ropes and manpower to walk the statues across the island.
"A lot of what people think they know about the island turns out to be not true," Lipo says.
Using the ropes, islanders would stand on each side of the statues, swaying them back and forth to create the walking effect.
Popular theory has held that the islanders created sled-like devices out of the island's trees to cart the statues. That theory also claims that deforestation from the island's inhabitants as part of the statue transporting process was directly tied to the population's eventual downfall.
Instead, Lipo and Hunt say the island's population was actually sustainable and instead fell victim to disease when European explorers first visited the island. In fact, Lipo said the cooperative effort involved in his transportation theory might have led to a more harmonious existence amongst Easter Island's inhabitants.
"You're actually putting a lot of your effort into the process of moving a statue rather than fighting," Lipo said. "Moving the moai was a little bit like playing a football game."

Jared Diamond, proponent of the sled transportation and subsequent deforestation theory, has disputed the new theory.

"This seems an implausible recipe for disaster," Diamond wrote in a post titled "The Myths of Easter Island" on Mark Lynas' blog. "Imagine it yourself: If you were told to transport a 90-ton statue 33 feet high over a dirt road, why would you risk tipping and breaking it by transporting it vertically with all its weight concentrated on its small base, rather than avoiding the risk of tipping by laying it flat and distributing its weight over its entire length?"
To counter Diamond's criticism, Lipo and Hunt attempted to recreate the walking method. They built a 5-ton moai replica (much smaller than the 90-ton Easter Island versions) and found the method worked quite well. And Hunt tells MSNBC that the theory applies to the larger statues as well.
"With the physics of the taller statue, you have greater leverage," he said. "It almost gets to the point where you would have to do it that way."
Click here for the Yahoo! News article.

As I am an individual with great interest in the island, this article caught my attention.
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Age 28
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Posted July 3rd, 2018
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Interesting theory on this. Seems unbelievable moving stones by walking but it sounds like it's possible. I wonder if we'll ever know exactly how these statues were put there,and the Pyramids.
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Seen October 2nd, 2015
Posted October 2nd, 2015
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Quite so, as this theory would definitely need more investigation to back up said details. However, the clock is ticking as another article said that some of the moai were beginning to erode.

Not a good sign, as those statues probably have an amazing story to tell. If only we could unravel their secrets.

The pyramids are a good example. Had the Polynesians made hieroglyphics, maybe more questions could be answered. But, with every mystery, until it's solved more questions arise than answers.
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droomph

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Just like the Uranus on its 90˚ tilt problem, it's a plausible and proven-to-work theory and is probably the only way that it could have happened, but proving that it's how they actually did it would be hard thing.

But it is interesting...and we're getting there with the proving it and stuff. Wouldn't time travel just be so nice to have
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uraqt


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You are very right droomph. This is about the only way I can think of it happening. Many people online speculate aliens to be the cause, although I am not one for the paranormal. Rapa Nui's inhabitants must have moved it this way. There is no other physical explanation as to how they were moved.
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KingCharizard

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What about the other huge stone and monuments around the globe, this could work for these statues but not for the stone henge rocks. Quite frankly we cant do alot of the craftsmanship the ancients did with the tools we have now let alone explain how they did it.

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I don't see how walking it is so unreasonable. I have a cat scratching post that's 5'6" tall, and way heavier than I could ever lift. Whenever my family and I need to move it, that's exactly how we move it. Makes perfect sense to me.


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weeb

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^Yes, and there's trees on Easter Island, I'm sure. They could have built a temporary log roller (something not too different from our forklifts) and disposed of it later, leaving the island without a trace of their wheel-type technology.
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uraqt


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What about the other huge stone and monuments around the globe, this could work for these statues but not for the stone henge rocks. Quite frankly we cant do alot of the craftsmanship the ancients did with the tools we have now let alone explain how they did it.
Because, for whatever reason, they built them for a purpose. Whether it be spiritual or sacrificial, or anything of the like, is a mystery. Think Aztecs? They had gigantic cities, and we can speculate it was all built by hand.
I don't see how walking it is so unreasonable. I have a cat scratching post that's 5'6" tall, and way heavier than I could ever lift. Whenever my family and I need to move it, that's exactly how we move it. Makes perfect sense to me.
Exactly. It's how I move bigger, bulkier objects that are too heavy for me to carry, so why not?
^Yes, and there's trees on Easter Island, I'm sure. They could have built a temporary log roller (something not too different from our forklifts) and disposed of it later, leaving the island without a trace of their wheel-type technology.
True! Even we ourselves in today's society use techniques like that.
Wait, wait, wait. It took them how long exactly to come up with this theory? They didn't think that maybe the natives had tied some ropes to the rocks and just dragged them for what reason?
That is a good question as any number of things could've happened. Small research team, busy schedule with other discoveries... etc.
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