Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo: The Statues That Walked | Nat Geo Live

Easter Island archaeologists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo offer a radically different theory of the island's history.

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Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo: The Statues That Walked | Nat Geo Live

National Geographic

[anhero]

You know what's really nice? Even though so many "intellectual" groups like Discovery or History have devolved into reruns of swamp loggers or crab fishing, National Geographic still delivers high quality entertainment that kick-starts higher brain functions.

Thank you for staying true to intellectual integrity, guys.

[OrchestrationOnline]

Imagine the frustration of the short guy in finding his speech on YouTube, reading the comments, and seeing that people seem to be more concerned with his delivery than the quality of his research and the huge effort and ingenuity he and his colleague have exerted for years.

Give the poor guy a break. He probably wants to be up on that stage less than anybody, but it's part of the job.

[vanquishable]

I love to read the comments from all the experts here.

[turpint]

Awesome video. I had the pleasure of meeting Terry Hunt at my friends house. He is an awesome man.

[gaurabkumarpanigrahi]

If those guys came to India and watched our Cart-Festival at Puri, Odisha then they would have understood this logic a long long back..How people moved Jagannath - Subhadra - Balabhadra Statues from inside of the temple to outside and climbed them to their vehicles...all these concepts they might have resolved so easily.

[gkprivate]

Certainly plausible. Once you get it moving, angular momentum and linear momentum just need to be nudged around here and there. Taller statues will be a lot more unstable though and will require more care in moving and probably have a greater chance of falling down while being moved. Apparently there are many statues along the road from the quarry to the posting sites which could indicate fallen statues. And others that may have fallen, well, certainly could be broken and chopped up to leave a clean path.

[OrchestrationOnline]

Why so many statues? Every year, the different tribes would compete to select a big man. The first youth of each tribe to bring back a frigate bird egg from the seasonal nesting grounds would win his chief the right to lead the island. This feat would be commemorated by a statue. Imagine one new statue a year for 400-500 years. Then there were ancestral statues and other monuments that each tribe would carve as longterm projects (or just to keep in shape). That's why there are over 1, 000.

[gkprivate]

Interesting if the people that arrived there were then literally stuck since the trees there were not useful for making good canoes or other sea going craft, at least initially. But I am sure that as the years went on, some other peoples arrived with newer craft.

[txiabneeb]

Personally, the statues were for both human an spiritual needs...surrounded the island by such monuments provided a secured feel for the lives there...

[Joseafrica]

Thor Heyerdahl would have been so surprised!!

[chingcahangchong]

daghanag EXPERTO diris Comments section oh. haha

[joannekucks]

National Geographic did a show how a group of men with ropes were able to rock and walk the statures.

[imelojohn]

No one knows the masages behind moai statue. But the families of Maya's king know what happened. Today, them still hide, no one! But it's so simply for who 's the families of the King.😀😀😀

[talltanbarbie]

"They walked of themselves..."

[beastventura]

So you mean the war never happened ???

[aslacuentayya]

So, they didn't destroy themselves?

[patriciaebert]

Just goes to show .. No matter how Mutch or little land you give a human .. He will destroy it along with himself ..and booths beauty. !

[whkwole]

I believe the statues on Easter Island were built with cement concrete, not carved from stones. My belief is easy to verify. We just cut a few pieces from the statues and taste them with our tongue whether there is a salty flavor; or analyze them whether there are marine lives and human hairs in the samples.

[brantgoose]

What a stupid beginning. I'm listening thinking he's telling true facts, then dudes just like..."Is this what really happened?". After 5 minutes of me thinking I'm learning stuff.

[DoooBridge]

Is the dude on the left wearing a rug?