The Strange Finding About The Moai Statues in Easter Island

[Ducklings]

I remember back in the 1970s, as a young child, wondering why they didn't dig down to see what was buried. It was so obvious to me. So when they finally did dig down and discovered the "heads" had bodies and everyone was so shocked, I remember thinking, "Well, yeah. I figured that out decades ago!" LOL

[murielbaith]

My husband was a landscaper, he put in a brick walkway at our house. He died 10 years ago. There is no sign of the brick walk. I would need to clean an inch or two of soil and grass off of the bricks to see them again.

[yougle]

I asked myself that same question 20 years ago. Over the years it has become clear that people are not spreading misinformation, but something is trying to hide the truth.

[lorabrowne]

A lot of the time lines are guesstimates. This one too.

[paulmc]

They cut all the trees down and there was nothing to hold the soil in place. When the rains came then the soil became water saturated and gravity caused a landslide.

[zek]

Someone should look around the islands coast. See if there is lost ruins in the water under more sedimentation. What if the island was a top plateau where families would place the statues.

[KULT_OF_SCIENTOLOGY]

IDK- I lived on the coast when I was a kid and that much humidity in the air, soil would allow for a lot more sink-age in that type of soil. Those huge stones would sink much faster in this island enviro than any other dry climate... just a partial thought.

[DazzaHazza]

they were navigation aides - if you look at every natural harbour on the island the statues stand in line with the safe line of passage

[MilkywayRemastered]

Stuff like this should make all science come together and say our egos are bigger than our minds and nobody else is even tryikng

[j.w.r]

Sedimentation is different than flood deposits.
He does say the conundrum is 30 feet in 700 years doesn't happen.
Only at the mouth of a river delta could you get that.
Or as he says they are vastly older.

[kimmopeltoniemi]

There are geologigal studies on that area done many times. Sedimentation 30feet grow is 11 000 years + - 1000 years

[topcat]

In October 2022, a fire severely damaged the iconic moai statues on Easter Island, particularly those in the Rano Raraku quarry, where they were carved. The fire is believed to have been started deliberately, and while some statues were charred, others were protected due to their half-buried state. Authorities, including the island's mayor, described the damage as "irreparable" for some statues, and a UNESCO-led investigation revealed over 350 archaeological pieces were affected, including 222 statues, with 22 being "seriously altered".

[Eroc.]

With a Tsunami larger than you can imagine, that's how.

[AlexMandrake]

It's actually much easier if you'd acknowledge a "global flood". It would accelerate any form of sedimentation, even the ones that would "filter" lifeforms by type... Like clams on the bottom, and more complex creatures above.

[mattie]

Natural sedimentation rates vary greatly. 30 feet of natural sediment would be deposited anywhere between 1, 000 and 10, 000 years. Still a remarkable mystery, though.

[ramengirll]

Seems like a pre-younger dryass monolithic structure. The flood buried them and the waters receeded a little after that and the heads were visible. Just a theory.

[SeShWaAH]

Estimated Sedimentation Rates for an Island Setting
Calm Lagoon Areas (Sheltered): 1–10 mm/year (30 feet = ~914–9, 140 years).

High Storm Activity Areas: Large events can deposit multiple centimeters or even meters of sediment at once, potentially reducing the time frame to decades or a few centuries.

Coral Reef Growth Contributing to Sediment: Coral reefs can grow up to 1–3 cm/year, with sediment accumulating around them at similar rates. This could take 300–900 years for 30 feet.

[Liminal_Nightmare]

That's also assuming that they weren't intentionally buried.

[danmeade]

It's on a tiny island that gets earthquakes and tidal waves.. You can get 30 ft of dirt piled up in a single wave/quake

[MichaelO-ghfb]

They weigh tons and tons, and have a footprint of maybe 10 feet in circumference. They just sink into the soft ground