Easter Island: The Mystery of the Giant Statues Finally Solved?

Hello there, ladies and gentlemen. I bet you have already heard about the giant statues of Easter Island. There are hundreds on this tiny island. They are truly enormous. Some are even as tall as a three-story building. But how did they get there? Who really carved them? And how were they transported there? And were erected since their discovery in the 18th century? You know, the wildest theories are circulating about them. Some even talk of aliens. It's April 6th, 1722. Exactly 301 years ago. The Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen and his crew accidentally landed on a tiny remote island lost in the vast Pacific Ocean. A small triangle the size of one and a half times the city of Paris. Located halfway between Tahiti and Chile. So small, one would barely notice it. Since this island is unknown to Europeans, it needs a name. At that time, they based it on what's around. Or on the calendar. Since April 6th, 1722 was Easter Day, well, its name was easily found. It will be Easter Island. The place is almost deserted. There are barely a few thousand inhabitants. And the landscape is completely barren. There's not a tree on the horizon. But that's not what surprises the Europeans the most. The island is scattered with countless impressive statues. Some lie on the ground. While others are firmly attached to the rock from which they were expertly carved. A strange sight that gives the impression that the work was abandoned abruptly. What exactly happened? Their size is really impressive. Some statues exceed 10 meters in height. And weigh up to 80 tons. The equivalent of 13 elephants. What also astonishes the Dutch is their expression. It is dark. The head features large ears and a prominent long nose that stands out on the face. It's quite disproportionate compared to the bust it rests on. To be honest, these statues are actually quite frightening. When they return from the expedition, the crew describes these mysterious statues which soon spark the curiosity of other explorers. As a result, the famous English navigator James Cook visits the site at the end of the 18th century. He brings back the first drawings of the statues to Europe in his luggage. They cause a sensation. Over time, scientists begin to take an interest. And they discover their name. Moai. Which means statue in the Rapa Nui language, the indigenous language. They were carved between the 10th and 16th centuries by the island's first inhabitants, the Matamua, who originated from Polynesia. These are the ancestors of the Rapa Nui people who currently inhabit Easter Island. Their technique is advanced. They carve the Moai from the rock of Rano Raraku, a volcano located on the eastern side of the island. They start by sculpting the front of the Moai and then hollow out the back until the statue detaches from the wall. But what is actually hard to explain is the manner in which these giant statues were moved. How could a people so isolated and devoid of mechanical equipment have transported such massive stone blocks? Indeed, some of the statues are located more than 25 kilometers from their original carving locations. To find out more, scientists have questioned the inhabitants. According to a local legend, the Moai walked on their own to various places on the island, animated by mana, a spiritual force inherited from powerful ancestors. Obviously, this explanation satisfies no one. In the early 1960s, science still didn't have much to sink its teeth into. That's when they emerged. Strange hypothesis. In a book titled Fantastic Easter Island, the ethnologist Francis Maziere proposed the idea that the first inhabitants of Easter Island knew how to harness forces to which we are no longer sensitive to. From his hypothesis, Easter Island could possibly be the point of contact with another world. Another French researcher, Serge Houtin, constructed an equally extravagant theory of his own. Considering the fact that these monoliths are too imposing to have been moved by humans, he thinks of aliens. As evidence, the faces that are depicted do not resemble any human being. On the other hand, it certainly isn't the head of ET either. In the end, these far-fetched stories didn't serve much purpose, except for their authors who have sold millions of books. But for about 30 years now, more serious archaeologists have been providing answers, let's say, more rational. So back in 1998, a hypothesis suggested that the Matamua laid their statues on wooden logs and rolled them from the volcanic quarry to their designated anchoring points. To test this theory, an American team carried out an experiment. With this technique, it typically takes about a week to move a 12-ton statue approximately 15 kilometers. Therefore, this theory is quite plausible. But in 2011, another team, also American, suggested that the giants made their way to their anchoring point by walking. No, I'm really not joking. Look, it's conceivable that the statues were moved upright by pulling them with ropes. It is entirely possible. To move a massive object by swinging it from one side, then to the other, somewhat like we do with a refrigerator during a house move. Scientists arrived at this conclusion after observing that most of the statues appeared significantly more worn at their base. They then imagined a technique involving three ropes and three groups of men, one placed at the back to prevent the Moai from tipping forward, while the other two, strategically positioned on either side, pull alternately on the ropes so as to make the statue sway from one side to the other. It's very effective. In this way, the statue advances 100 meters in 40 minutes. So is this hypothesis correct? Some scientists doubt it. They don't hesitate to point out inconsistencies. First, the island's soil is riddled with lava flows, which would have made the operation very delicate, with too high a risk of falling. On the other hand, the statues of Easter Island are not made of concrete like those used in the experiments. They are made of tuff, a rock made from volcanic ash, very friable. So the ropes would have left visible friction marks on the faces of the Moai. However, there are none. The very first theory, that of transport on wooden logs, is therefore the most plausible. Moreover, it also once assisted in lifting the veil on another mystery, the gradual disappearance of the descendants of the Matamua, the Rapa Nui. Once numbering in the thousands, there were only 111 individuals left by the end of the 19th century. In the early 2000s, renowned geographer Jared Diamond proposed in his influential book, Collapse, an explanation along these lines. According to him, a competition had arisen between the different clans of the island to show their power. Each of the clans started building statues that were taller and taller, and heavier and heavier, which would have required huge amounts of wood to roll them. Until the day when the island was completely deforested. Without trees to protect them, the soils would have eroded, agriculture would have declined, and famine would have spread. To survive, the clans then would have engaged in a merciless war. But that doesn't match. Well, not completely. According to studies conducted at the University of Bordeaux in France, a sudden drop in temperature caused by the phenomenon called El Nino, that famous ocean current, which is believed to have caused a significant increase in the ocean's salinity, and a drought that actually led to the disappearance of vegetation, and not only the excessive use of wood to transport moai. Regarding the population's disappearance, the focus instead shifts rather towards the Europeans. Upon landing on the island, they committed atrocities and introduced diseases that claimed many lives. To summarize, the statues were presumably shifted by rolling them along on wooden logs. But it wasn't really the increase in statue production and the use of wood that caused the disappearance of the forests, rather the El Nino phenomenon. As for the decline of the population, it would have been caused by the arrival of Europeans. Fortunately, the Rapa Nui culture has still survived. Today, Easter Island is alive again with a population of over 7,000, not to mention the tens of thousands of tourists, maybe a bit too many, who make it a point to come every year to admire these renowned stone giants. Well, I hope this video has lifted some of the mystery surrounding these giants. If so, please hit a like and subscribe in order to further advance our beloved community by leaps and bounds. 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