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Mysterious ancient statues on Easter Island have their location as a 'signal'
2023-11-14 21:41:24 / MISTERE&KURIOZITETE
The giant ancient stone figures that have been found on uninhabited Easter Island have puzzled the world's researchers for centuries, but experts have managed to penetrate some elements of their origin, at least about the location.
Researchers who have analyzed the location of the megaliths on the remote Pacific island, also known as 'moai sites', say they are mostly located near sources of fresh water.
They say their findings are supported by several aspects of the statue platforms and their mass, which may be related to the water supply and its quality, writes the British network TheGuardian.
"It is important to demonstrate that the site of the statues is not a place of ritual - as [ahu and moai] were integrated into the lives of the communities that once lived there," says Carl Lipo of Binghamton University in New York, co-author of the study.
Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, has more than 300 of these megalithic sculptures created by a single community that cost next to nothing. They were first discovered by Europeans in the 17th century and are believed to represent their ancestors in ritual form, but their location on the island had until now been part of the mystery.
Studies already suggest that they are located at points connected to the main sources of livelihood of the inhabitants.
Researchers focused on the eastern side of the island checked the geographic distribution of 93 platforms.
They wondered where the Rapa Nui islanders got their water since there were no permanent sources and no evidence that they used the lakes for this purpose.
But according to them the fresh water moved in underground passages and caves until it came out near the shores of the ocean.
"When they were on the island we saw animals that looked like they were drinking from the ocean but in fact they were underground sources of fresh water flowing there," the report says.
The results, published in the journal Plos One, show that the best explanation is the proximity of the location of the mysterious statues to underground water wells, explaining why they are found both in the interior of the island and on the coast.
They add that by building the statues the communities appear to have competed with each other, contrary to the idea that there were bloody clashes between the islanders, as has been suggested in the past.
Cooperation among the community was essential to the construction of the statues, say the researchers, who still have no idea what brought about their depopulation.
Other researchers have dismissed claims of underground water sources saying they were too small to be considered significant.
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