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Reconstruction of the Transport of the Moai Statues and Pukao Hats Pavel Pavel

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Reconstruction of the Transport of the Moai Statues and Pukao Hats Pavel Pavel Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation Volume 9 Article 2 Issue 3 Rapa Nui Journal 9#3, September 1995 1995 Reconstruction of the transport of the moai statues and pukao hats Pavel Pavel Follow this and additional works at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj Part of the History of the Pacific slI ands Commons, and the Pacific slI ands Languages and Societies Commons Recommended Citation Pavel, Pavel (1995) "Reconstruction of the transport of the moai statues and pukao hats," Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation: Vol. 9 : Iss. 3 , Article 2. Available at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj/vol9/iss3/2 This Research Report is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Hawai`i Press at Kahualike. It has been accepted for inclusion in Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation by an authorized editor of Kahualike. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Pavel: Reconstruction of the transport of the moai statues and pukao hats Reconstruction of the transport of the moai statues and pukao hats Pavel Pavel, Czech Republic Everyone who sees the moai statues on Easter Island is and they helped me build a clay mold and we cast a concrete surprised that these giants were transported across the island replica. In this way I obtained a copy of a moai that was 4.5 by primitive aborigines. There are some problems in effecting meters high and of 12 tons weight. The shape was constructed transport: the first is their weight. Next is the fact that each from photographs. statue was transported in one piece. The aborigines finished The course of our experiment was as follows: we fastened them in the area ofthe quarry and after that each was moved several sets of ropes to the replica statue so we could pull it in to its position on an ahu platform. There are many theories different directions. One set of ropes was attached around the about this mystery of Easter Island. I tried to find a solution base ofthe statue. They were for twisting. Therefore their free with the help of my experience as an engineer. Therefore ends could be used to pull the statue forward. The second set some of my ideas and claims may not exactly match the of ropes was fastened around the head of the statue; these archaeological point of view. were for tilting the statue to either One of the suggested methods side. interested me very much. The old During the experiment, we tried legends claim that statues simply to make the sculpture 'walk'. Nine walked. The results of my men pulled the ropes fastened to j'esearch surprised me. My the head of the statue. This group calculations have told me that the tilted the statue alternately. At the islanders could be correct. I same time, the other group ofeight estimated that the transport of the men pulled the ropes fastened to moai statues by this method could the base. They turned it forward be ten times easier than pulling alternately to left and right. the moai on a sledge, as is often We made a successful shown in drawings. This test was experiment in July of 1982. conducted by Thor Heyerdahl on However, we tried moving the Easter Island in 1955: it took 180 statue over a patch of bare earth. people to pull a 10 ton statue. There had been rain for several The idea of a big moai tilting days before our experiment, and twisting looks unbelievable causing the bottom of the moai to and impossible at first glance. But sink in the mud. I wasn't satisfied from a technical point of view, with the experiment because, this way of moving is very when the statue twisted, it moved effective. This is a conuuon the mud like a bulldozer. method for moving tall objects all Our next landmark experiment over the world. Could it have was in 1986. The Norwegian Kon­ been used by the old builders of Tiki Museum prepared a second moai? The principle is based on expedition to Easter Island. The twisting a load on the edges of its leader of this was Mr. Thor base. The real problem is finding Heyerdahl. I had written him a a way of inducing the heavy letter. Our test with the replica statue to twist. moai was of great interest to him Figure 1. Using a beam attached to the moai to twist There are several possibilities. and thus I became one of the and walk it over the ground. Drawing by Pavel. The basic solution is pulling members of the expedition. alternate sides of the load There we made experiments forward. This makes the load 'walk'. The transport effort can with an authentic moai. First we conducted a test with one of be reduced by tilting the load to the sides which reduces the the smaller statues. We needed to see how well we could friction. I made calculations about this kind of movement. I cooperate with our collaborators from among the islanders. discovered that this method is approximately ten times easier The statue we used was 2.80 meters high and weighed than simply pulling the statue on a sledge. This result approximately 4-5 tons. Members of our expedition and the encouraged me to continue. I decided to conduct an islanders needed a two day test to learn how to make the maai experiment and verify my theoretical results. This was in move. Three men tilted the moai and five others managed to 1982. Because a trip to Easter Island wasn't possible, I twist the image forward. We repeated our trial with a bigger thought ofanother solution. I gathered a group ofenthusiasts moai in Tongariki. This one was 4 meters high and weighed Rapa Nui Journal 69 Vol 9 (3) September 1995 Published by Kahualike, 1995 1 Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation, Vol. 9 [1995], Iss. 3, Art. 2 about 9 tons. We needed seven people for tilting and nine for the general public in the Czech Republic. There were eleven twisting the statue. In each case we moved them over dry soft thousand people at this performance. The organizers gave me soil containing some small stones. The experiments you can a wet lawn as a place for the moai to walk. It was an watch in SEBRA films/ Swedish movies: Kon-Tiki Man, and interesting experience. The moai base s3nk 5-8 centimeters Easter Island. into the lawn! It started to tilt forward and backward during Practical experiments gave us the actual numbers of men its walk. It was a surprise for me, and looked very dangerous. for pulling. These numbers could be reduced in various ways. What had happened? As it twisted forward, one of the front For example, ifa beam is fastened to the back of the moai in corners of the base of the statue landed on an uncompressed a horizontal position (Figure I.), the beam will work as a patch of lawn which then acted as a spring and pushed the lever. In this way, it is possible to reduce the force needed to moai dangerously backward. The statue tilted back by 5-7 twist the moai by one-half or even by two-thirds. I suppose degrees. This could be an explanation of why the aborigines that the aborigines learnt new skills and made some cut the bottoms of the moai at a slant. I believe they inventions during their three hundred years of moving moai. transported them as far as they could during wet seasons to These skills encouraged them to cut and move a larger reduce friction and wear on the bases. sculpture than the previous one, each time they tried it. The slanted base of the statues is probably the reason why Therefore it is a problem for us to solve the entire mystery. aborigines placed a stone foundation underneath the base of We need to sort our knowledge and archaeological evidence the statues waiting to be moved along their route. One such into a sequence according to when each actual moai was foundation stone was found under statue #478, for exanlple. transported. We have to assume that During the long time the moai was there was progress in the transport 1. upright waiting to be moved on, it technology on Easter Island too! would have faIlen forward because Two engineers from the Soviet of the slanted base and the soft soil. Union suggested ways for the moai to The base of a moai is cut at a slant walk. Alexandr Pestun and Pustem so its center ofgravity is somewhere Valeev from Leningrad published over the front half of the base, not their theory in a paper, over its center. This means there is "Konsomolskaja pravda" on 12 July more pressure on the soil at that 1986. They planned to produce a point and a deeper sinking. But this concrete replica weighing 40 or 80 is only my own explanation. It tons. I kept in touch with them but ............F needs more direct research on the ~...If they stopped their project soon after island. the article was published. They" I had one unsuccessful suggested that only one set of ropes experiment, too. It was in my be fastened to the head of the statue, hometown of Strakonice. Canadian expecting that the moai would twist TV asked me to carry out a itself ifthe direction ofpulling was at demonstration for Expo '86 in an angle to the side and back of the howing the use ofa lever arm to liji the Vancouver several weeks after my statue.
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