Easter Island Mystery

Easter Island: The Mysteries of the Moai On a tiny island off the coast of Chile, two thousand miles from the nearest civilization, there stand hundreds of massive stone statues hewn from rough volcanic rock in the shape of human faces. These statues remain a great source of controversy and disagreement among the scientific community. Almost nothing is left over from the time of the figures or their creators to explain them but ancient island lore and legend, unproven stories that serve only to create more mystery than they explain. Two of the greatest mysteries surrounding the statues are how the precisely crafted statues were actually carved, and how the colossal monoliths were transported from the quarry to their final resting place. The

As usual, conspiracy theorists have suggested that the statues were created by aliens or an advanced culture whose continent sunk below the sea. However, there is no evidence to support either theory, and experts generally reject these claims. A more logical explanation of the moai has been composed by various researchers who have come to the conclusion that a team of six men belonging to a high-ranking guild of craftsmen would have carved one statue in about a year to fifteen months of working every day (Reis 32). It has been proposed that this caste of carvers would have been provided for by the lower-ranking members of society. Furthermore, it has been suggested that, to adequately feed and house the workers, the island would have had to be in a time of relative peace. The effort to support six men who were producing no food of their own would have required cooperation across Rapa Nui (Reis 32). Little concrete evidence of the technique used to sculpt the moai has been found, but many hypotheses exist. The generally accepted theory is that using simple adzes, a primitive tool much like an axe head with no handle usually crafted out of volcanic glass, the team would carve a rough outline of the statue lying on its back into the rock of their volcanic quarry. Then, features on the head and body would gradually be formed (Reis 32). When this was completed, the process of detaching the moai began. Katherine

Both the processes of building and the moving the megaliths with primitive equipment would be astonishingly difficult and delicate operations. The scientifically accepted explanation for how moai were carved is that a group of talented stoneworkers would be employed to create the statues, while having their food and housing provided by other members of the community. Once the statues were finished, the process of moving them began. This likely involved the use of a wooden sledge and rollers to transport the statue from the quarry to their ahus, contrary to the theories of the islands European explorer. Although many explanations for the mysteries of Easter Islands have been put forth, no one knows for certain the true answer. Someday, these answers might reveal themselves. Perhaps, however, we will never know the answer to one of the greatest mysteries of human history: what the great explorer Thor Heyerdahl describes as one of the “most curious monuments of