How did the statue's on easter island get there?

Question

in my spanish class, we researched it slightly, and nowon knows how over 900 statue's got on the island over a thousand years ago, the statues weigh over a ton so it seems impossible for people back then... What do you think???

Answer 1

One Idea:

Moai/Easter Island Heads


Moai at Rano Raraku, Easter Island
Moai from Ahu Ko Te Riku in Hanga Roa, with Chilean Navy training ship Buque Escuela Esmeralda cruising behind. This moai is currently the only one with replica eyes.
Ahu Tongariki, restored in the 1990's
Ahu Akivi, the only moai facing the oceanThe large stone statues, or moai, for which Easter Island is world famous were carved during a relatively short and intense burst of creative and productive megalithic activity. Archeologists now estimate that ceremonial site construction and statue carving took place largely between about AD 1100 and 1600 and may have consumed up to 25% of island-wide resources — with some statues probably still being carved at about the time Jacob Roggeveen arrived. According to recent archaeological research 887 monolithic stone statues, called moai, have been inventoried on the island and in museum collections. This number is not final, however. The on-going statue survey continues to turn up new fragments, and mapping in Rano Raraku quarry (see below) has documented more unfinished statues than previously known. In addition, some statues incorporated into ceremonial site construction surely remain to be uncovered. Although often identified as "Easter Island Heads", the statues actually are heads and complete torsos. Some upright moai, however, have become buried up to their necks by shifting soils. Most moai were carved out of a distinctive, compressed, easily-worked volcanic ash or tuff found at a single site called Rano Raraku. The quarry there seems to have been abandoned abruptly, with half-carved statues left in the rock. However, on closer examination the pattern of use and abandonment is more complex. The most widely-accepted theory is that the statues were carved by the ancestors of the modern Polynesian inhabitants (Rapanui) at a time when the island was largely planted with trees and resources were plentiful, supporting a population of 10,000–15,000 native Rapanui. The majority of the statues were still standing when Jacob Roggeveen arrived in 1722. Captain James Cook also saw many standing statues when he landed on the island in 1774. By the mid-19th century, all the statues had been toppled, presumably in internecine wars.

As impressive as the statues are, the platforms (called ahu) used as a base for the statues contained 20 times as much stone, and actually required even greater resources to build.

Answer 2

One theory was that the statues were made on the island by a reasonably advanced culture that lived there, and rolled into position using tree trunks as rollers, like how they think the stone to build the pyramids in Egypt was moved. Unfortunately the people cut down all the trees to use as rollers leaving them with no more wood to use for fuel, build houses/ boats, and the people died out, leaving their massive statues as a legacy

Answer 3

Unholysargeant has it about right, I saw it on History Channel or Discovery Channel.

The carving and worshipping of the statues completely consumed their society and was eventually the downfall of them. There are actually many statues that are even not fully completed, and there are some that have toppled over as a result of declining workmanship towards the end.

Answer 4

The locals built them out of the island rock. It's no more impossible than the pyramids. People in the past weren't stupider than they are today, they just had less technology.

You'd be suprised what you do do with patience, persistence and a lot of manpower.

Answer 5

I did not do that!! Enjoy one of the great mysteries. Think about if someone or something put those statutes on Easter Island person-kind can cure poverty. It must have taken as much brain power to get those statutes up as it will to eradicate poverty.

Answer 6

Nothing is impossible if you set your mind to it! The statues were carved there on the island by master craftmen.

Answer 7

they were carved out of the rock quarries, transported by cutting down all the forests to transport the rocks on the wooden poles, then positioned and with the help of about 100+ men moved into their vertical positions. They all died out as they completely destroyed their eco system by cutting down all the forests which they relied on for food shelter etc.

Answer 8

About 1000 years ago Polynesian inhabitants carved them from volcanic rock.

Answer 9

why does everyone think that it's impossible for people 'back then' to do thing that we uses machine to do now? the machines don't just come out of no where you know, they evolve through improvement to earlier tools.
Personally, i think they had the 'wheel' and they used that to move stuff around.

Answer 10

i heard that the stones were already there and a tribe of people who lived on the island carved the faces in.
also heard a myth that 'aliens' did it ( dont think so )