For generations, the massive moai of Easter Island, called Rapa Nui by the locals, have stood in quiet testimony to one of archaeology’s longest-standing mysteries. How did an island society, remote ...

A months-long drought exposed the cracked clay floor of Rano Raraku, the volcanic crater that served as the main statue quarry on Easter Island. In the middle of the newly dried lakebed a compact moai ...

The towering Easter Island moai have always stirred wonder and curiosity. But how these massive sculptures got from quarry to platform has long been a mystery. The smaller ones weigh 12-14 tons, while ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. There are more than 1,000 moai statues on Easter Island, representing a key part of the region’s cultural and archeological past.

When the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen landed on Easter Island in 1722, he was puzzled by how the indigenous islanders could have transported the hundreds of colossal stone statues he found studding ...

The gargantuan heads of Easter Island may have finally tacked on an artist credit — or several, it turns out. The over 900 statues on Rapa Nui, the indigenous name for the Chilean territory, had long ...

Researchers say Easter Island's 4-ton moai "walked" across the island -- thanks to physics, ropes and a little ancient choreography -- no magic necessary. Binghamton University Turns out, the heads of ...

The "walking moai hypothesis" could end a long-time debate over how ancient engineers moved these iconic statues around Easter Island. Reading time 3 minutes The moai statues of Easter Island have ...

How Easter Island’s moai statues made it from the quarry to their final destinations has been a mystery for centuries. Archaeologists who analyzed the physics of the statues and their transport found ...

Researchers confirmed that Rapa Nui’s moai statues could “walk” upright using a rocking motion, aided by rope and just a few people. Experiments with replicas and 3D models revealed design features ...

There are more than 1,000 moai statues on Easter Island, representing a key part of the region’s cultural and archeological past. A new moai, smaller than most, was found in a dried-up lakebed. The ...