lowly, the giant stone statue began to move. It left the ancient volcano where it was carved. Then it headed toward the sea. Day after day, the statue walked. Finally, it reached the coast and stopped. It climbed onto a platform and turned its back to the sea forever. It watched over all the people who lived on the island.


Birth of a Mystery So goes a legend told by the people of Easter Island. T is place is a nearly treeless bit of land. T e Rapanui people came here by boat hundreds of years ago. T ey built homes and grew crops. T ey also


made and moved nearly 1,000 giant statues. T e people carved the statues from the rock of an extinct volcano far from the coast. T e statues represent their ancestors’ spirits. Moving the statues seems impossible. Each


one weighs many tons. T e Rapanui did not have wheels. So they couldn’t roll the statues. T ey didn’t have horses to drag the statues. Still, the statues moved many kilometers from the volcano to the sea. Early explorers thought the Rapanui were


super strong giants. Maybe these early settlers carried the statues. Others thought aliens from outer space made and moved the statues. Or maybe the statues erupted from the volcano. Today, many Rapanui have an idea. Ancient


priests and chiefs had special powers, they say. T ey simply ordered the statues to move. And move they did. For proof, people living on Easter Island


point to the ancient legend. “We know the truth,” says one person. “T e statues walked!”


Search for Answers For scientists, the answer isn’t so simple. Aſt er all, the statues aren’t alive. So scientists came up with their own hypotheses, or explanations. T ey started with logic. T ey knew giant


palm trees once grew on Easter Island. T ese trees are extinct now. Maybe the islanders used wood from the


trees to move the statues, the scientists thought. T ey could have cut the trees into logs. T en they could have laid the statues face up on logs and rolled them. Or they could have built wooden sleds to drag the statues. T ese scientists came up with a method to


test their ideas. T ey did experiments. T ey wanted to see if they could roll or drag the statues. T ey could. T e experiments worked. T e tests also seemed to solve another


mystery. T ey explained why the palm trees went extinct. T e ancient Rapanui cut them down to move statues, the scientists concluded. Mystery solved? Not so fast. T e scientists


showed it was possible to roll or drag the statues. Yet they did not have the evidence to prove it was true. In fact, new evidence raises doubts. Archaeologists Terry Hunt and Carl Lipo investigated these new clues. T e clues tell a diff erent story.


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