Oral tradition on Rapa Nui, better known as Easter Island, has long been rapt with legend. When asked how the giant ancient stone heads, called Moai, had been moved to their current locations miles from where they were carved and quarried, the natives' reply was simple: "They walked." Made to represent their ancient ancestors, the largest of the moai stand 32 feet tall and weigh 82 tons. Imbuing this fanciful myth with a sense of practicality, archaeologist Sergio Rapu Haoa developed a theory that "walking" the heavy statues is precisely the method that was used in transporting them upright. In Mystery of of Easter Island, produced in 2012 for the NOVA television series, archaeologists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo put the upright "walking" theory to the test. Past assumptions had centered on the statues being pulled horizontally on log rollers, but seemed unlikely given the lack of resources on the desolate island. Hunt and Lipo designed and constructed a scaled-down concrete replica of a moai, and recruited a team of strong volunteers, to put their theory to the test. After several miscalculations and adjustments, three teams (one behind, two on either side) were able to rock the moai back and forth using ropes, using the weight and momentum of the 5 ton statue to "walk" it forward. What initially seemed doomed to be a failure now seems the probable method utilized by the ancient people on Rapa Nui, extolling their ingenuity and creativity in carving and transporting some of the most intriguing and colossal artworks ever produced by human hands.
