The "walking moai hypothesis" could end a long-time debate over how ancient engineers moved these iconic statues around Easter Island.

Their findings line up perfectly with Rapa Nui oral traditions, which have long claimed the statues literally walked from the quarry where they were carved to their final resting places.

Archaeologists have confirmed that Easter Island’s iconic Moai statues were “walked” to their platforms using rope by “remarkably few” of the island’s indigenous Rapa Nui people, solving a ...

Now, scientists claim to have solved one important part of the mystery. Weighing between 12 and 80 tonnes, scientists have long wondered how the island's ancient civilisation could have moved the huge ...