Ever since Westerners first visited the remote Polynesian island the monolithic figurines have fascinated and mystified people across the world. Each face of the 887 total is representative of deified ancestors of the past who went on to be worshiped by the Rapa Nui. What is so amazing about the works is the fact that to carve and move the enormous stone faces into the positions they were found in would have been practically impossible. To this day it’s unclear how islanders managed to physically maneuver the multi-ton moai hundreds of feet. It’s simply incredible and mind-boggling all at once because even with today’s modern technology it would still be an enormous undertaking!
For years scientists and archaeologists have studied the land, culture, and traditions surrounding the statues and yet the missing pieces never seemed to fall into place. Perhaps they should have been looking a little deeper because a huge clue was revealed when the heads were finally excavated.
Upon clearing the dirt away from what was assumed to be just a head, archaeologists were completely shocked to find a full stone body underneath! More bodies were soon uncovered and many that were found were covered with ancient, indecipherable writings called petroglyphs. All this time the bodies were literally hiding in plain sight and now researchers actually have something new to work with! Who knows what other secrets the heads or island will give away, only time will tell.
Check out this neat video to learn more fascinating details about the heads and what they look like after being uncovered. It really puts things into perspective and makes you stop and think about how in the world all this was done, it’s just so unbelievable!
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