What did a 2012 experiment show?

A replica could be rocked forward upright with ropes

Moai Quiz: How Rapa Nui's Giant Statues Walked

This moai quiz explores the great statues of Rapa Nui, or Easter Island. Play an interactive set of 10 questions on how many moai exist, the Rano Raraku quarry, volcanic tuff, average size and weight, the unfinished giant, ahu platforms facing inland, red pukao topknots, coral eyes, oral traditions of walking statues, the 2012 walking experiment and Ahu Tongariki.

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🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Island
Where are the moai?
Count
About how many moai are there?
Quarry
Where were most moai carved?
Rock
What rock were most moai carved from?
Giant
What is El Gigante?
Ahu
What are ahu?
Face
Which way do most moai face?
Hats
What are the red pukao on some moai?
Walk
What does Rapa Nui oral tradition say about moving the moai?
Experiment
What did a 2012 experiment show?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: Where are the moai?
Answer: Rapa Nui, or Easter Island
The island belongs to Chile.
Q2: About how many moai are there?
Answer: About 900 to 1,000
Many never left the quarry.
Q3: Where were most moai carved?
Answer: Rano Raraku
It is a volcanic crater.
Q4: What rock were most moai carved from?
Answer: Volcanic tuff
It is softer to carve.
Q5: What is El Gigante?
Answer: An unfinished moai about 21 meters long
It was never moved.
Q6: What are ahu?
Answer: Stone platforms the moai stand on
Many face inland.
Q7: Which way do most moai face?
Answer: Inland, toward villages
They watched over communities.
Q8: What are the red pukao on some moai?
Answer: Topknots of red volcanic stone
They came from Puna Pau.
Q9: What does Rapa Nui oral tradition say about moving the moai?
Answer: They walked
Mana was said to move them.
Q10: What did a 2012 experiment show?
Answer: A replica could be rocked forward upright with ropes
Teams pulled ropes side to side.

Quarries, Platforms and the Walking Statue Theory

The moai are giant stone statues on Rapa Nui, also called Easter Island, in the Pacific, now part of Chile. There are about 900 to 1,000 of them. Most were carved from volcanic tuff at the Rano Raraku quarry, where many unfinished statues remain, including El Gigante, about 21 meters long.

Moai average about 4 meters tall and weigh many tonnes. Many stood on stone platforms called ahu, facing inland to watch over villages. Some wore pukao, topknots of red volcanic stone from Puna Pau, and their eyes were once inlaid with white coral.

Rapa Nui oral tradition says the moai walked to their platforms. In 2012 researchers showed a replica could be rocked forward upright by teams pulling ropes side to side, making it seem to walk. At Ahu Tongariki, fifteen moai were restored in the 1990s and stand together facing the sunrise.

What This Quiz Teaches

History fans will enjoy these questions.

How many moai exist
Where they were carved
What they stand on
Which features they have
How they may have moved

Did You Know?

A moai called Hoa Hakananai'a is in the British Museum.
Rapa Nui has its own language and rongorongo script.
A 2022 fire damaged some moai.
Rapa Nui National Park is a UNESCO site.
The island is one of the most remote inhabited places.