Page 4 - 2020 Comprehension Readings

Transportation of moai statues
One of the biggest Easter Island mysteries is how stone age tribes could succeed in transporting 50+ ton moai statues kilometers across hilly terrain. There are several transportation theories, some of which are more generally accepted than others.
Upright transportation
There are many moai statues that fell during transportation to their ahu. Some of these are on their stomach and some on their back. This tells us that the moais were transported upright. Since the moais are standing in the quarry Rano Raraku, and they are standing when having reached their ahu, upright transportation saved the Rapa Nui people the huge amount of labor of lowering and raising the statues.
Transportation on rollers
The most widely accepted theory is that the statues were standing on some kind of construction that would keep the statue standing, which would roll on logs. With this technique, brute force could be applied and rapid, safe moai statue transportation would be possible. As statues got bigger, huge amounts of lumber would be needed. This would eventually cause deforestation of all thick and straight trees, which then made transportation impossible.
American archaeologist C harles Love experimented with the technique of transporting a statue on rollers. He moved a 9 ton moai replica 40 meters in only 2 minutes, using not more than 25 people. No other moai transportation experiment has been able to match this one in speed.
Gr. 5 Oral Comprehension Readings 4