The Easter Island statues are one of the greatest secrets on Earth!

One of the greatest world mysteries is the idols of Easter Island, located in the South Pacific, at a distance of almost 4000 kilometers west of the coast of Chile. This island, also called Rapa Nui, was discovered on Easter Sunday in 1722 by the Dutch captain. At that time, it was almost uninhabited, but on its territory were hundreds of giant statues, weighing several tons each. The traditional term for the name of these idols is The word "moai". The statues of the Easter Island have an eyeless face. The largest of them - Paro, weighs about 82 tons and has a height of about 9.9 meters.

So who built them and how did they get there? Nobody still does not know the exact answer to these questions, but many are trying to find a clue. For the inhabitants of the island it was almost impossible to cut and put moai in a vertical position without transport, only with their primitive tools.

One theory suggests that the island of Easter was inhabited by Polynesian sailors who traveled on their canoes, guided by the stars, the rhythms of the ocean, the color of the sky and the shape of the clouds. They first arrived on the island in 400 BC. Perhaps on the island there were two classes of residents - with short and long ears. Long-eared people were rulers and forced the short-eared to cut moai. That is why the statues on Easter Island are mostly long ears. Then the short-eared people rebelled and killed all the long-eared.

Apparently, the statues of Easter Island were carved from the upper edge of the wall of the volcano on the island. They moved them with the help of ropes made of ancient hard grass. The rope was wrapped around moai, and then a large group Men pulled at one end of it.

Another group, smaller in number, acted as a counterweight and pulled the other end of the rope back.

Thus the statues of the Easter Island moved to the ocean. The movement of one image could last a month, since this process was very difficult.

The population of the island of Easter reached, it is believed, 11 thousand people. Due to the small size of the island, its resources were rapidly depleted.

When all of them were exhausted, people resorted to cannibalism - they began to eat each other. Work on the statues has ceased. When The first Europeans arrived on the island, most of the residents have already died out.

Another question is what functions were carried by moai and what they were built for. Archaeological and iconographic analysis shows that the statues of the Easter Island were symbols of power, both religious and political.

In addition, for the people who created them, they actually were the storehouses of the sacred spirit.

Regardless of what the moai were designed for and why they were built, today their popularity is higher than ever.

Currently, the island thrives in the modern tourism industry, hundreds of travelers and lovers of the unknown come there to see with their own eyes majestic idols, looking at the sea.