Unsolved Mysteries: Easter Island The world has many unsolved mysteries that baffle even the most intelligent minds. One particular mystery, though, has remained truly unsolved. This mystery is the Easter Island heads that were built by people using primitive tools and manpower. Why is this mystery so puzzling and have we any clue about how the people of Easter Island accomplished this amazing task? Well, there are numerous facts, theories, and unanswered questions to be discovered. The following evidence further explains why and how the Easter Island people built the great stone carvings.
1. Facts Easter Island is one of the most isolated islands in the world leading to the lack of knowledge on the stone carvings and people located there. But why did the Rapa Nui leave their homeland, and did they mean to discover Easter Island? These incredible stone carvings are known as the moai ("Mysterious Places: Explore Easter Island in Words and Pictures."). Most moai are not heads, however, but full heads and torsos leading to the difficulty transporting and carving these sculptures. The islanders were able to carve the massive moai using only hand chisels and tools ("Easter
…show more content…
This theory states that moai were moved in an upright position kept stable by ropes attached to the statue. The Rapa Nui people would then tug on the ropes and use the rocking motion to move the moai. This theory explains the ancient legend of the moai “walking” to their resting spots. The transported moai did not have sloping heads, like those left in the quarry, providing a more stable center of gravity for transport. Fractures along the moai bases have been found, suggesting pressure was put along the edges during transport. Abandoned statues have been found facing backward when ascending a hill and forward when descending a hill also suggesting upright transport ("Easter
A farmer in the late 19th century, upon plowing his land near Carthage, Alabama, discovered an object buried in the earth. From the soil, he removed a large stone disk, polished and flawlessly round. The disk was about 12 inches in diameter with small-notched edges. One side displayed incised globular lines and the flip side was “a strange engraving showing an open hand with what looked like an eye peering from it. Encircling the hand-and-eye image were two entwined rattlesnakes with horns and long tongues.” The farmer had previously found tools pieces of pottery, but he had never seen an object such as this (Blitz 2008:1).
The content of this project is based on the largest and most complete megalithic structure in Europe, The Stonehenge. It resides in center of the southern England; on the wide spread Salisbury Plains. It is said to be old approximately four thousand years, and it is even considered older than the Great Pyramids of Egypt. Standing there over such a long time, it has been the subject of research and mystery in general, for a really long time. Dozens of notable scientists, emperors and others expressed their admiration and interest through different means of explorations and excavations. There have been various theories on how it was built, and what the purpose of it was, and some of them are really intriguing and interesting such. Some thought it was built as a solar-lunar calendar, some said that it had medical purposes for the giants that had built it, it was considered a ceremonial place, temple of veneration, a portal and lastly but not less important, there were some associations of Stonehenge to the aliens. The two specific theories on the Stonehenge’s importance will be discussed and summarized in this essay. First theory comes from an astronomical stand point interpreted by Mr. Chris Witcombe, and the second theory might sound unusual when said the Stonehenge represents the human vulva, and this theory is interpreted by Anthony Perks(PhD) and Darlene Bailey(BA).
Easter Island, or as some would call it “Rapa Nui,” was one of the most isolated islands in the world that was inhabited by humans. The island does not have a lot of wood and other resources and yet, when the first travelers discovered the island, it was full of huge carved stones statues. Around the twentieth century they discovered that when the first settlers came to the island, it was rich with resources and bountiful land. The first settlers also had a complex society with a hierarchy and sophisticated religious rituals. According to Barzin Pakandam, from the London School of Economics, The inhabitants of Rapa Nui are the descendants of a group of Polynesian settler colonists. It was estimated that at first there were only twenty to thirty settlers that arrived on the island. They arrived on large conjoined sea-faring canoes built for long distance travel. The settlers brought many traditional Polynesian staple foods with them including chickens, rats (considered a delicacy), taro, yam, sweet potato, bananas, gourds, paper mulberry, turmeric, and arrowroot. Archaeologists and historians assume that the origins of the Islanders are the archipelago chain of the Mangareva’s (Pakandam, 2009, p. 9). First, researchers were interested in how these settlers carved the statue and transported them all over the island, but they changed their focus to the theories of how the islanders was driven to collapse. The researchers came up with different theories as to why the islanders were driven to collapse and they are still debating which theory is the right one.
However, that meaning is not always known. It is believed that Stonehenge was most likely made to bring people of a community together as well as to mark a place where individuals could gather to perform rituals, although many theories about why it was built and the purpose it serves exist. For example, recent studies show that the monument may mark the graveyard of a ruling dynasty. There is evidence of over 200 cremated human remains that have been buried at the site within a period of 500 years. Some evidence suggests the site may have been a piece in a larger series of structures used for funerary rituals. The only thing that is knows for sure “is that Stonehenge held meaning for the Neolithic community that built it”
In 1785, a Christ Child was said to have appeared. A shepherd boy from the village of Tayankani played with the child, but the child disappeared. The child was believed to have disappeared into a rock that was left with his imprint. This is the story behind the pilgrimage to the rock, but those of our community don’t pay much attention to it. Their purpose in the event is to ‘honor’ their supernatural beings. They pay homage to Rit’i (the snow), Taytakuna (Fathers), and the great Apus (Lord Mountains).
Between the years 300BC-400BC, a group of inhabitants landed ashore the island of Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui. Once ashore, these settlers began collecting resources and learned to survive with no help from the outside, stranded on an island in the middle of the Pacific. They created methods to hunt, fish, make clothing, and cook food properly. In addition, the people of Rapa Nui also separated into different groups or tribes. These tribes coexisted on the island for some time – until civil wars broke out across the island. The inhabitants of Rapa Nui disappeared from the island without a trace. The cause of their disappearance is unknown although experts believe the inhabitants of Rapa Nui were irresponsible with their resources.
In this ancient place there were all different kinds of remnants from what looked to be a permanent settlement, which led us to believe that it was formed in the Neolithic period. Scientists also believe from the skull fragments found that the Cro-Magnons were the hominid type that inhabited the area. Some of the fossils found helped to prove that the settlement was immobile because the fossilized plants were apparently in a specific arrangement, showing that they were planted purposefully. Some of the cotton grown in this area was apparently used to make woven cloth. Remnants of corn meal were used to make some of the mortar for their establishments, along with mud and sand. They also made their bricks, which were much larger than today’s, from mud. Some of the teeth from the Cro-Magnons were found to be stained. They were thought to be from the coffee ingested due to the high amounts of caffeine deposits in the bones.
The first permanent stone fortifications was built in Jericho. They constructed the building using roughly shaped stones laid without mortar (Kleiner, 24). Once Jericho’s inhabitants left their site, a different group of people came to settle there. They used different techniques, “…established a farming community of rectangular mud-brick houses on stone foundations with plastered and painted floors and walls” (Kleiner, 25). The megalithic tomb in Ireland was built in the form of a passage grave. “At Newgrandge, the huge megaliths forming the vaulted passage and the dome are held in place by their own weight without mortar, each stone countering the thrust o neighboring stones. Decorating some of the megaliths are incised spirals and other motifs” (Kleiner, 27). The main chamber used early examples of corralled vaulting and in addition the Newgrandge tomb illuminates sunlight through the passage and the burial chamber during the winter solstice. Nearing the end of the fourth millennium BCE, Neolithic civilization had spread in every diffraction even to small remote areas. “…Hagar Quim is one of many constructed on Malta between 3200 and 2500 BCE” (Kleiner, 27).The builders of Malta constructed the temple by pilling cut stone blocks very carefully in stacked horizontal rows. “To construct the doorways at Hagar Qim, the builders employed the post-and-lintel system in which two upright stones
By far the biggest mystery are the Moai Statues that stand 20 to roughly 69 feet tall and weigh at least 20 tons obviously a feet for pre-modern man to produce. These statues were made as a way to show dominance by the multiple tribes found on the island. The tribes competed trying to make their Moai statue better and taller than the next tribes. The mysteries of the Moai statue and the island’s history that bring fame to Easter Island are not as enigmatic as the fame brought to the popular novel and film The Lorax. The film tells the story of a boy who meets the Onceler who knew of a time when truffula trees existed. The Onceler tells his story of cutting down all the truffula trees in the forest to make Thneed, a new trending product, which made the Onceler rich, but The Lorax warned him to stop cutting down the truffula trees however he didn 't listen. When all the truffula trees had been chopped down, all the animals left the forest and the Onceler became poor and regretted not listening to The Lorax. In the end the Onceler gives the last tree seed to the boy and the boy plants
The mysteries of Stonehenge on the Salisbury Plains of England have perplexed human-kind since the beginning of recorded history. Some of the stones weighing as much as 40 tons were said to be transferred from Wales, which was a distance of about 137 miles. With the use of radiocarbon analysis at the site of Stonehenge it has been determined that the monument was built between 3000 and 1500 BC. The original purpose of Stonehenge has been lost in the pages of time, and therefore has been a major topic of discussion for archaeologists. Since the mid 12th century archaeologist, geologists, historians, and even some authors have put forth their own opinion of when and why Stonehenge was built. Throughout this essay I shall analyse and interpret different theories on Stonehenge in an attempt to understand what we know so far. It is in the mid 1100’s that we come across our first theory on Stonehenge, given by Geoffrey of Monmouth.
Stony sentry’s, carved years ago by Polynesian craftsmen, gaze over one of the most remote places in the world. With their land enlarged by overuse, islanders now draw on a revival of their culture to attract visitors. I intend to tell about this small island off the coast of Chile named Easter Island.
Behind every great structure in the world, there are the people who made them, and who took the time and effort to design them. Those who made Stonehenge succeeded in creating an incredibly complex and mysterious structure that lived on long after its creators were dead. The many aspects of Stonehenge and the processes by which it was built reveal much about the intelligence and sophistication of the civilizations that designed and built the monument, despite the fact that it is difficult to find out who exactly these people were. They have left very little evidence behind with which we could get a better idea of their everyday lives, their culture, their surroundings, and their affairs with other peoples. The technology and wisdom that are inevitably required in constructing such a monument show that these prehistoric peoples had had more expertise than expected.
Cahokia also constructed Ethagy mounds that were shaped like animals when viewed from the air. They also created the “American Woodhenge.” This woodhenge was constructed of 5 circles made from 12-60 wooden posts. These posts would likely have been used as a calendar of sorts marking the solstices, equinoxes and festivals important to the residents.
For centuries, Stonehenge has been a structure of wonder for all those who see or hear about it; many people wonder how it was built and why. Over the years, Stonehenge and the similar surrounding structures have been heavily studied, with new discoveries found yearly. Construction of Stonehenge itself started around 2600 BC on the Salisbury Plain in England (Grimston, 2007). It is constructed of large stones brought from the Welsh mountains positioned into several circular patterns (Grimston, 2007). Not too long ago, a discovery was made near Stonehenge called Durrington Walls. This lesser known site is believed to be the home of the builders of Stonehenge and is very significant to the monument’s purpose. 200 feet away from there lies the most famous of the timber henges, Woodhenge (Rattini, 2008). After examining each site’s solstitial alignments and relation to each other structure, it is deducted that each would have played a pivotal part in a ritual that would have taken place thousands of years ago.
The veil of mystery over Easter Island has been covering the island since we first stumbled upon it, the popularity of the island has grown immensely, and the mystery still encom-passes the island to this day. The History of Easter Island is one filled with prosperity and hardship, the inhabitants of the island experienced everything. The island is world re-nowned for the hundreds of giant statues called Moai, which are placed all over the island. The island is shrouded in mys-tery and due to this scientists, archaeologists, engineers, and linguists alike have hypothesized theories about the is-land. Over the years scientists have made many more intriguing discoveries about Easter Island, removing