If Statues Could Talk
How did the Easter Island statues move? Archaeologists are still trying to work out how - and
what their story really means.
A. On a winter night last June, José Antonio Tuki, a
30-year-old artist on Easter Island, sat on Anakena
beach and stared at the enormous human statues
there – the moai. The statues are from four feet tall
to 33 feet tall. Some weigh more than 80 tons. They
were carved, a long time ago, with stone tools and
then they were moved up to 11 miles to the beach.
Tuki stares at their faces and he feels a connection.
‘This is something that was produced by my
ancestors,’ he says. ‘How did they do it?’
B. The first Polynesians arrived at Rapa Nui (Easter
Island), probably by canoe, hundreds of years ago. The island is 2,150 miles west of South America
and 1,300 miles east of its nearest inhabited neighbour, Pitcairn. Nowadays 12 flights arrive every
week from Chile, Peru and Tahiti. In 2011, 50,000 tourists – ten times the island’s population – flew
to Easter Island. Almost all of the jobs on Easter Island depend on tourism. And the tourists go there
for only one thing: the moai.
C. People around the world became curious about the statues after the Norwegian adventurer Thor
Heyerdahl made Easter Island famous, and there are different theories about how the statues were
moved to the beach. Many researchers think the statues were pulled along the ground using ropes
and wood.
D. Pulitzer Prize winner Jared Diamond has suggested that many people were needed to build and
move the moai. As a result, the island’s trees were cut down for wood and to create farming land.
This open land was fragile and it was soon eroded by the strong winds, so it was very difficult to grow
food. The situation was an early example of an ecological disaster, according to Diamond.
E. On the other hand, archaeologists Terry Hunt of the University of Hawaii and Carl Lipo of
California State University Long Beach have a more positive view of the island’s history. They
suggest that the inhabitants actually pioneered a type of sustainable farming – they built thousands
of circular stone walls, called manavai, and grew food inside them. And their theory about how the
moai were moved is that they were ‘walked’ along using a system of only ropes and a few people.
F. As José Tuki contemplates these enormous statues, he doesn’t mind that there are no definite
answers about the history of his island. ‘I want to know the truth,’ he says, ‘but maybe knowing
everything would take its power away.’
Keywords:
assume (v) if you assume that something is true, you imagine that it is true, sometimes wrongly
crop (n) crops are plants such as wheat and potatoes that are grown in large quantities for food
deliver (v) if you deliver something to somewhere you take it there
drag (v) if you drag something, you pull it along the ground, often with difficulty
erode (v) if the weather, sea or wind erodes rock or soil, it cracks and breaks it so that it is damaged
gaze (v) if you gaze at someone or something, you look steadily at them for a long time, for example
because you find them attractive or interesting, or because you are thinking about something else
ignite (v) if something or someone ignites your feelings or interest, they cause you to have very
strong feelings about or interest in something
stare (v) to look at someone or something for a long time
starve (v) if people starve, they suffer greatly from lack of food which sometimes leads to their death
Reading comprehension:
Exercise 1: Read the article and choose the correct option.
1. The origins of the moai are ...
a. well documented by archaeologists.
b. the subject of several theories.
c. a complete mystery to the islanders.
2. On Easter Island today, the moai …
a. are important for the island’s economy.
b. have lost their significance.
c. are regarded as a problem.
3. The people of Easter Island today …
a. are isolated from the modern world.
b. are often unemployed.
c. depend on foreign visitors.
4. The story of the moai can teach us lessons about …
a. our interaction with the environment.
b. the role of art in society.
c. island communities.
Exercise 2: Read the article again and choose the correct option.
5. José Antonio Tuki …
a. is from Easter Island.
b. came to Easter Island to work.
c. carved some statues on Easter Island.
6. The moai were made …
a. from rocks on Anakena beach.
b. to be all the same size.
c. miles away from Anakena beach.
7. On Easter Island …
a. there are now more tourists than inhabitants.
b. people fly away to work in places like Chile and Peru.
c. there isn’t enough food for everyone.
8. Thor Heyerdahl …
a. proved who had created the statues.
b. was wrong about the origins of the statues.
c. thought the statues had been brought to the island from South America.
9. Jared Diamond thinks that …
a. the forest resources on Easter Island were poor.
b. there were never any forests on Easter Island.
c. it became difficult to grow food after the forests were cut down.
10. Hunt and Lipo’s theory about the movement of the statues involves using …
a. wood and stone.
b. ropes and people.
c. wood and ropes.