Posts tagged ‘Easter Island legends’
EASTER ISLAND: A POEM
This poem was published by Winson-Paramount Books in 1975.
In a past post I offered a short story about Easter Island.
Something about that island I find haunting.
Easter Island
On sightless eyes
No one may see
They toil.
Probing rock with calloused fingers
They grope.
One minded their effort approached
Uniqueness.
Years passed witness fingers to
Dust.
Monuments remain to visit their labor;
Solemn stone faces looking out,
Pumice minds knowing an age of men
Possessing greatness long gone –
Deaf ears formed with stone axes,
Blood and sweat transformed
To monumental greatness;
Waiting on Easter Island.
THE STATUES WALKING ON EASTER ISLAND EXPLAINED
THE STATUES WALKING ON EASTER ISLAND
As promised in my last post about the Walking Statues on Easter Island, here is a description of the method used to get the statues to walk.
I once saw a documentary about Easter Island and those statues the island is known for.
A group researching Easter Island constructed a statue approximately 14 feet tall. At the top of the statue, they looped two ropes with the end of the ropes manned two groups ready to try an experiment.
The groups began alternating by pulling the rope on one side and releasing the pull on the opposite side. Slowly, once they developed a certain rhythm one side of the statue moved forward. They found that by alternating the pull on the ropes they could get the statue to move forward, one side of the statue at a time.
The statue was ‘walking’.
THE WALKING STATUES OF EASTER ISLAND
CONTINUED
Now, let’s get the big guy to walk.
The walking stature was demonstrated in the book Easter Island Easter Island (*).
A statue was constructed out of concrete, 15 feet long. Not as big as many of the statues on the island but served the purpose to demonstrate the process.
Two ropes were attached one to the head and one to the base. With seventeen people on each rope, the rope on the head pulled the statue slightly forward, then the rope attached to the base pulled the entire statue forward. With practice the statue was made to waddle and walk forward.
The process was later tried on an actual statue nine feet tall and weighing 4 or 5 tons. With three men to tilt and five to pull forward, the statue ‘walked’.
Thus, the legend of the walking statues of Easter Island has some validity, but it was not a supernatural event.
(*) Paul Bahn and John Flenley, Easter Island Easter Island, 1992, Thames and Hudson, pages 141, 142.
THE WALKING STATUES OF EASTER ISLAND
I have always been intrigued by the culture of the remote Easter Island. Especially by the huge, magnificent statues associated with the island.
Legend has it that they walked to the sites where they now stand. A supernatural occurrence to be sure.
WHICH IS TRUE, to some extent.
Now, before they can walk they must stand.
I have seen them stand, going from prone to erect. But it was not a miracle. The statue went from lying on its back to standing up with the use of rocks (*). While lying on its back, using levers rocks were placed beneath the statue and the ground until the statue was lying on an inclined plane. Once it was raised to a significant height, ropes were used to finish the process.
*Paul Bahn and John Flenley, Easter Island Easter Island, 1992, Thames and Hudson, pages 158, 159.
