Mysterious idols of Easter Island
The mysterious idols of Easter Island The statues of Easter Island have been of interest to scientists at all times. Archaeological excavations on the island have been carried out since the nineteenth century. The oldest idols date back to the 8th century. The locals call these sculptures “moai”. They were found to be made of soft tuff using basalt tools in quarries. Then they were moved, somehow, and installed on huge stone platforms "ahu".
But the mystery is that how, without modern equipment in the form of cranes, the inhabitants of the island were able to install these huge boulders? Many express the idea of the help of space aliens. Local natives say that their ancestors made these statues "walk" on the ground.
Experiments have been carried out proving that 15 muscular men could do it with a complex system of ropes. But given Easter Island's limited space and rugged terrain, this would not have been possible with ropes.
Most likely, the inhabitants of Easter Island used the leverage method, which was proven by Archimedes many centuries ago.
In 1998, American scientists conducted an experiment of moving huge boulders and placing them on platforms. The experiment took place in Wyoming. As mentioned above, Easter Island has a complex relief in the form of hills up to 500 meters high. For the accuracy of the test, a copy of such a hill was created with an inclination angle of 25 degrees.
Log sleighs (3m by 4.5m) and four ladders 3m high and 1.5m wide were also made. Ladders were used in the form of rails, and the sleigh rolled along these rails like a train. The ladder was sequentially rearranged and, thus, the cargo, weighing 13 tons, was delivered on a sledge to the place of hoisting. 30 men were invited and used as draft force. They had to drag a block to the top of a 20-meter-long cliff and install it on a slab.
Using the lever method, the block was easily placed vertically. This job took 2 hours. It is still not clear how the inhabitants of Easter Island put the statues in a vertical position. It is assumed that they were already transported in this form from the place of manufacture. This experiment cannot be considered absolute proof that the locals used just such a method. Probably, other methods were used to transport and install idols on Easter Island. But we will never know about it. But experiment showed that such a method could be used.