Easter Island discovery: Experts unravel mystery of ancient statues

Easter Island has always piqued my interest. I would love to go see it in person someday if I can manage to fly in a plane, which I am terrified of, for that many hours. But I also do not buy that explanation. Those statues took a ton of work and man power, no way in heck were they to signal fresh drinking water. Come on.

originally posted by: Jess_Undefined
Easter Island has always piqued my interest. I would love to go see it in person someday if I can manage to fly in a plane, which I am terrified of, for that many hours. But I also do not buy that explanation. Those statues took a ton of work and man power, no way in heck were they to signal fresh drinking water. Come on.

I would recommend going - and it is quite the place to visit. Flights are about the only easy way to get there - but there IS a way to do it by ship: I was once upon a time involved in moving a lot of bulky equipment back to Chile on said boat.

imaginaisladepascua.com...

The second option is to travel aboard the Aquiles ship belonging to the Chilean Navy. It is a multipurpose ship that travels to Antarctica, Easter Island and other isolated areas to perform military, logistic and scientific work. The boat usually departs twice a year from Valparaiso to Easter Island with a duration of seven days, as it stops at Robinson Crusoe Island in the Juan Fernández archipelago. The price is quite cheaper than airfare (around 120,000 Chilean pesos) but it is mandatory to return in the same boat, which limits the stay on the island to a few days, or present a closed plane return ticket .

a reply to: Hanslune

Thank you for the recommendation! I think I'll add this to my to do list in a few years. As long as I can be tranquilized for the entire flight lol. Or most at least.

originally posted by: Jess_Undefined
a reply to: Hanslune

Thank you for the recommendation! I think I'll add this to my to do list in a few years. As long as I can be tranquilized for the entire flight lol. Or most at least.

Go by way of Tahiti/NZ. Limber up there then rest again at Moorea when you come back. You'll find EI a very atypical experience. An open air museum of extraordinary sights. The people other than the Chilean Marine Platoon who garrison the place are quite friendly. The two weekly flights are the social event of the weeks and many go out to the airfield to get mail, look at the tourist and get the air shipped food supplies! Prepare for some great hikes.

a reply to: Jess_Undefined

Easter Island is 2000 miles
from any land mass. The
Polynesians existed 1000
years ago and were supplanted
with the current population
a few hundred years ago.

There are Moai carved from
basalt, 7 in hardness where
diamond is 10, exceeding
and bronze age tools.

There are megalithic walls,
composed of basalt, at
Vnu, again surpassing the
skill of the Polynesians.

Brien Forester has a new
video about this. Experts insist
these walls are built by the
Polynesians but clearly could
not have been built by them
but were built by an ancient
culture.

originally posted by: ThatDidHappen
a reply to: Jess_Undefined

Easter Island is 2000 miles
from any land mass. The
Polynesians existed 1000
years ago and were supplanted
with the current population
a few hundred years ago.

There are Moai carved from
basalt, 7 in hardness where
diamond is 10, exceeding
and bronze age tools.

There are megalithic walls,
composed of basalt, at
Vnu, again surpassing the
skill of the Polynesians.

Brien Forester has a new
video about this. Experts insist
these walls are built by the
Polynesians but clearly could
not have been built by them
but were built by an ancient
culture.

Foerster is a liar. If you got that basalt crap from him, he lied to you about that specifically, and basically everything else you listened to. Even when you weren't listening he was lying.
The Moai are carved from volcanic ash deposits. Such stone is referred to as "tuff."
There are different types of tuff, depending on what kind of ash it's made of.
The ash on Rapa Nui is basaltic, so the Moai are carved from basaltic tuff.
It's not basalt, or they wouldn't call it tuff.

There IS basalt on Rapa Nui. It was used to carve the tuff.

Harte

a reply to: caterpillage

yeah but a stick wouldnt have people talking about them four hundred years later. LOL.
Thats interesting. Of course its just a theory.

a reply to: schuyler

I dont know that it would make a difference. The last ice age was over two million years ago and these statues are
between four and six hundred years old. I dont think the water levels have changed since they were carved.

a reply to: Tanga36

It would make perfect sense for them to face in where the people lived and maybe only a few face out for those coming along the coast. The people would be coming from inland going toward the coast.

a reply to: Harte

Yes there is basalt on Easter Island, in underwater cliffs. I was mistaken, he did
not say a Moai was basalt, my mistake.

If the sea was 300 feet lower 12000 years ago it would allow quarrying for the
blocks used in the megalithic walls that are on the Island.

One thing Brein does point out that is curious is the presence of totori reed,
which is only found in Peru.

As I pointed out, the front of the Moai show arms and long fingers grasping the
hip - the same style used only in Peru and Bolivia in particular the statue in
Tiwanaku near the Sun Gate. It isn't hard to conclude the quarryers, carvers,
presenters of the Moai were the same civilization that built Machu Piccu,
where one can still see 500 year old Inca repairs of the more ancient
structures.

originally posted by: ThatDidHappen
a reply to: Harte

Yes there is basalt on Easter Island, in underwater cliffs. I was mistaken, he did
not say a Moai was basalt, my mistake.

If the sea was 300 feet lower 12000 years ago it would allow quarrying for the
blocks used in the megalithic walls that are on the Island.

One thing Brein does point out that is curious is the presence of totori reed,
which is only found in Peru.

As I pointed out, the front of the Moai show arms and long fingers grasping the
hip - the same style used only in Peru and Bolivia in particular the statue in
Tiwanaku near the Sun Gate. It isn't hard to conclude the quarryers, carvers,
presenters of the Moai were the same civilization that built Machu Piccu,
where one can still see 500 year old Inca repairs of the more ancient
structures.

Will you now argue that Machu Picchu dates back further than the 1400s - AD?
Your previous post that I quoted clearly stated that the Moai were carved from basalt, even commenting on how hard basalt is - "There are Moai carved from basalt, 7 in hardness where diamond is 10, exceeding and bronze age tools."

Don't think you'll get far with an argument for an extreme antiquity for Machu Picchu.

Harte

a reply to: Harte

Actual number of basalt Moai: 14

basalt moai

a reply to: ThatDidHappen
Nice find. Are the other ones as big?

Harte

a reply to: Harte

Apparently they used basalt
picks to make the ones of volcanic tuff.

The largest is 270 tons
and is buried. The
others range from 20
tons to 80 tons
inculding the 13 or 14
basalt Moai.

Page 28 of this pdf lists several of the known basalt moai. link

Hard to find much info on them - there are almost 900 moai, only 10 documented basaltic ones (according to the paper.)

But the paper does indicate that basalt was regularly carved on Rapa Nui. It mentions large basalt altar stones or something like that.

Harte

a reply to: Harte

Mata Mea translates from Romanian into "My mat"?
They were into some kind of intellectual yoga that was too esoteric?

originally posted by: Harte

originally posted by: ThatDidHappen
a reply to: Jess_Undefined

Easter Island is 2000 miles
from any land mass. The
Polynesians existed 1000
years ago and were supplanted
with the current population
a few hundred years ago.

There are Moai carved from
basalt, 7 in hardness where
diamond is 10, exceeding
and bronze age tools.

There are megalithic walls,
composed of basalt, at
Vnu, again surpassing the
skill of the Polynesians.

Brien Forester has a new
video about this. Experts insist
these walls are built by the
Polynesians but clearly could
not have been built by them
but were built by an ancient
culture.

Foerster is a liar. If you got that basalt crap from him, he lied to you about that specifically, and basically everything else you listened to. Even when you weren't listening he was lying.
The Moai are carved from volcanic ash deposits. Such stone is referred to as "tuff."
There are different types of tuff, depending on what kind of ash it's made of.
The ash on Rapa Nui is basaltic, so the Moai are carved from basaltic tuff.
It's not basalt, or they wouldn't call it tuff.

There IS basalt on Rapa Nui. It was used to carve the tuff.

Harte

Yeah I've actually worked the stone at Rapa Nui, it fairly soft and when you walk around the quarries you see the hammer stone everywhere. They actually work but it is hard work. Thor Heyerdahl did a lot of work there and wrote about it in his book Aku Aku he helped make a new/finished an existing Moai at that time.

I did not work with basalt that I can remember but other cultures worked it and harder stones - it just takes longer.

originally posted by: ThatDidHappen
a reply to: Harte

Yes there is basalt on Easter Island, in underwater cliffs. I was mistaken, he did
not say a Moai was basalt, my mistake.

If the sea was 300 feet lower 12000 years ago it would allow quarrying for the
blocks used in the megalithic walls that are on the Island.

One thing Brein does point out that is curious is the presence of totori reed,
which is only found in Peru.

nope it grows there and other places too.

Fischer, Steven R. Drought, vegetation change, and human history on Rapa Nui Reaktion Books, 2005 ISBN 978-1-86189-245-4 pp. 7-8

This source says the reed has been on EI for 30,000 years and was probably brought by birds

As I pointed out, the front of the Moai show arms and long fingers grasping the
hip - the same style used only in Peru and Bolivia in particular the statue in
Tiwanaku near the Sun Gate.

Well no its a rather common technique for those who lack the artistic ability and materials to crave separate arms and hands. The earliest use of the that technique is at Gobekli Tepe itself dating back about 10,000 years before the Polynesians showed up on EI


www.ancient-origins.net...

It isn't hard to conclude the quarryers, carvers,
presenters of the Moai were the same civilization that built Machu Piccu,
where one can still see 500 year old Inca repairs of the more ancient
structures.

Well no the Inca were late to the party and no the Inca built MP despite the fervent wishes of certain alternative deep thinkers.

originally posted by: ThatDidHappen
a reply to: Harte

Apparently they used basalt
picks to make the ones of volcanic tuff.

The largest is 270 tons
and is buried. The
others range from 20
tons to 80 tons
inculding the 13 or 14
basalt Moai.

270? You sure? Source? If you mean El Gigante its estimated at 170 tons and was never moved. The largest one every finished and set up I think was 75 tons and was named Paro I believe.