Where Did the Easter Island Statues Come from? | BBC Earth

Sir David Attenborough looked into the history of the statues on the remote Easter Island to discover how these astonishing monuments were first created.

Watch the full program on BBC One 7pm Sunday 08/05/2016 UK.

[shuddupeyaface]

The fact that human beings thrived there for so long is the true enigma. The statues are are just what people do. The humanity, the complexity or our wandering species is the real fascination.

[supaasandy]

Now we know that the Moais were moved in a vertical way shaking the statue side-to-side with ropes over the head. That's why the rapanui people said that the moai "walked" to the Ahu from the volcanic fields. Only physical principles.

[Wiseoletree]

The Moai will be where the Moai will be 🗿

[scottys]

Question: Where they intentionally partially buried, or was the ground level that much lower when they were first placed there?

[iamofadeadinsideoof]

The sacred place where first Sigma was born🗿

[telboyjack]

They were cut from the quarry in cylindrical form and then rolled to the site where they were carved into shape. Simples!

[silversurferthasplurger]

I always thought extraterrestrials had involvement in this, damn ancient aliens

[opensocietyenjoyer]

there is nothing astonishing at the least artful art of human history

[BornAgainCynic]

Where Did the Easter Island Statues Come from? Umm, err, Easter Island?

[A_Studio_X]

How did they get the stone hats on top of the statues? Apparently they weigh 10 tons.
If you ask me it's because they were not primitive but had advanced technology.

[SkepticalChris]

Rollers would only work if the rolling logs were perfectly cylindrical and the ground flat and level.

Likely they were dragged but I lashed onto a wooden frame or sled to reduce surface area and friction

[NobleGrows]

This is an amazing accomplishment by that civilization

meanwhile on The History Channel:
ALIENS 👽

[Kostya]

This is moai statue 🗿 was very popular landmarks

[javierramirez]

This was the point of a bigger island that sank long ago

[thanxreaperlux]

They don't have any idea that their work admired as meme chad.

[abacus]

The brown hats on some of the Easter Island statues are possibly KOLPIK/ SHTREIMEL HATS. Alexander Salmon Jr.was the DE FACTO RULER of Easter Island from 1878 to 1888. Alexander Salmon Jr. with an English father and Tahitian mother was also a Jew, and he had a godlike status on Easter Island. The BROWN KOLPIK HATS with the raised crown were probably a tribute to Alexander Salmon who was possibly given such a hat by his father. The family were a mercantile dynasty with extensive plantations in the South Seas.

[Starfishtroopers]

gobekli tepe ... and the mystery deepens

[James-kvkb]

So we didn't really find out anything we didn't know

[omar_]

The Easter Island statue is from Chile

[philipthomas]

The original moai were basalt and extremely hard to carve without higher technology which the stone Age Polynesians didn't have