The real story about Rapa Nui - not the crap
@clipo.bsky.social
Carl Lipo: Archaeologist, mover of giant statues, remote sensing geek, AllRecipes.com cofounder. Professor of Anthropology, Associate Dean for Research and Programs, Binghamton University. Secretary and board member, Southern Tier Land Conservancy.
Of course those who hail from the Czech Republic are sensitive to the suspicion that we are ignorant of Pavel and his work— and send us a lot of scold-y emails. We try to correct them but they are justifiably proud — though sometimes insultingly so — of their Czech hero.
October 26, 2025 at 10:01 PM
Of course those who hail from the Czech Republic are sensitive to the suspicion that we are ignorant of Pavel and his work— and send us a lot of scold-y emails. We try to correct them but they are justifiably proud — though sometimes insultingly so — of their Czech hero.
Pavel moved a statue that was reshaped to stand on an ahu. So when he “walked” it, the motions was laborious shuffling back and forth.
October 26, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Pavel moved a statue that was reshaped to stand on an ahu. So when he “walked” it, the motions was laborious shuffling back and forth.
These criticisms miss the point of our work which explicitly builds on Pavel’s efforts but links everything to the archaeological record. The key insight is that Rapanui people carved moai to be walked and used the forward lean and rounded front base to enable the moai to walk.
October 26, 2025 at 9:53 PM
These criticisms miss the point of our work which explicitly builds on Pavel’s efforts but links everything to the archaeological record. The key insight is that Rapanui people carved moai to be walked and used the forward lean and rounded front base to enable the moai to walk.
Some notes … lipolab.wordpress.com/2025/10/05/t...
The Walking Moai Hypothesis
We just published a new paper that adds some details about the “walking” hypothesis for moai transports. In this paper we explore some of the physics of walking to see how well it scales with large…
lipolab.wordpress.com
October 5, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Some notes … lipolab.wordpress.com/2025/10/05/t...