Scientists have 'finally solved' mystery of Easter Island heads in groundbreaking discovery

Scientists believe they've figured out how the Moai statues were moved into their place on Easter Island.

Situated 2,182 miles west of Chile in the Pacific Ocean, the remote island is famous for being home to over 1000 statues depicting human heads dotted along the coastline.

Created between the years of 1250 and 1500 by the indigenous Rapa Nui people, the statues stand at an average height of 13 feet and predominantly weigh between 10 to 14 tonnes.

The figures were built to honour deceased ancestors and feature both a head and a body. Although many have been buried by changes to the landscape over the hundreds of years, leading to the nickname 'Easter Island heads'.

Now a recognised UNESCO world heritage site, historians and archaeologists have been working tirelessly over the years to learn more about the statues as well as protect them from damage. However, one enduring question has remained over the years: how did the moai statues reach their final resting place?

Well, scientists may finally have the answer to that question.

Created between 1250 and 1500, the statues are considered a UNESCO world heritage site (Getty Stock Images)

How were the Moai statues moved into place?

It was previously suggested that the statues were moved horizontally into position; however, this was later dismissed as being too strenuous. The largest statue is said to weigh around 80 tonnes, which large numbers of Rapa Nui would've been required to move them into place.

However, researchers from Binghamton University and the University of Arizona have not put forward evidence to support an alternate method of transportation.

The teams have tested a theory which suggested the moai were 'walked' horizontally into place by using ropes, multiple people pulling the statue in a rocking motion, and specially designed roads.

"Once you get it moving, it isn’t hard at all – people are pulling with one arm. It conserves energy, and it moves really quickly," Carl Lipo, Professor of Anthropology at Binghamton University, explained.

However questions about how the statues were moved into place have remained over the years (Getty Stock Images)

"The hard part is getting it rocking in the first place. The question is, if it’s really large, what would it take? Are the things that we saw experimentally consistent with what we would expect from a physics perspective?"

In order to test the theory, the team created a detailed 3D model of a moai statue in order to see how it would 'walk'. The results supported the theory, with the statues' large D-shaped bases allowing them to move forward when rocked side-to-side.

The team then designed a 4.35-ton replica moai and were able to move the statue 100 meters in just 40 minutes with a team of 40 people.

Take a look at a previous recreation of the technique conducted by National Geographic back in 2012:

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"What we saw experimentally actually works," Lipo continued. "And as it gets bigger, it still works. All the attributes that we see about moving gigantic ones only get more and more consistent the bigger and bigger they get, because it becomes the only way you could move it.

"We actually see them overlapping each other, and many parallel versions of them. What they are probably doing is clearing a path, moving it, clearing another, clearing it further, and moving it right in certain sequences. So they’re spending a lot of time on the road part."