So the whole moving those giant stone heads thing? Yeah I saw this theory online that they actually “walked” the statues upright instead of dragging them. Sounded crazy at first, like seriously? But man, I just had to try it out myself. You know me, gotta test stuff.
Getting Started Was A Pain
First off, obviously couldn’t use a real moai. Made a smaller model, like maybe knee-high? Tried carving one out of wood. Big mistake. Took forever and looked kinda lumpy. Ended up using a heavy bag of sand and cement mix shaped roughly like those heads – wide base, pointy chin thing. Let it dry solid. That thing wasn’t going anywhere easy!
Tying It Up Like Christmas
Next step: ropes. The idea was you wrap ropes around the top of the statue and kinda… rock it back and forth, pulling side to side. Needed strong stuff. Used thick nylon rope I found in the shed. Had to wrap it super tight so it wouldn’t just slip off the top. This took way longer than expected. Tying knots that held under pressure? Yeah, practiced for ages.
- First Attempt: Pulled straight. Nothing. Just dug into the dirt.
- Second Attempt: Pulled harder with more people. The model just tilted and thudded over on its face. Almost wrecked it.
- Third Attempt: Felt like giving up. Had blisters starting.
The “Aha!” Moment (Almost Broke My Toe)
Okay, after the faceplant disaster, I realized the pull points needed to be off-center to rock it. Got a helper this time. We stood on either side with the ropes wrapped up high. Pulled gently towards me. My helper eased his rope. The statue tilted towards me. Then, just as it started to fall forward, my helper pulled his rope hard from his side, while I eased mine. It tilted back… but slightly further forward than it started! Then we switched: I pulled while he eased. And it tilted forward again! We kept alternating.
We weren’t dragging it. We were literally rocking it side to side, making it “walk” forward in these little shuffles. It worked! Once we got the rhythm, that heavy little model actually started moving across my backyard. Mind blown. And yeah, my helper almost dropped it on my foot once – close call!
What Did I Learn?
It’s totally possible. And actually smart when you think about it. Trying to drag that immense weight horizontally? Impossible friction. But rocking it? You’re working with gravity and momentum, not fighting it the whole way. Plus, fewer people needed – just good coordination and strong ropes wrapped right. Sure, it’d be insanely hard work with a real, multi-ton moai, and tipping it upright in the first place is another nightmare. But this method? It’s an elegant kind of crazy. Ancient folks weren’t dumb; they figured out the physics tricks we’re still trying to understand. Pretty humbling, actually.
