Old school UAVs… flying hydrogen filled blimps with digital camera on the south coast.

Rapa Nui adze or toki

Birdman glyphs

Petroglyphs on the north coast.

Ahu Nau Nau

The sun rises behind Ahu Tongariki

Small trachyte moai on Poike.

A lonely moai fragment that once stood on an ahu (you can tell because it has carved eye sockets), toppled, became just a piece of rubble, and was stacked into the next ahu renovation.

Ahu wall—at least 3 phases of construction.

A blimp photo view of moai in their excavated trenches at the bottom of the Rano Raraku quarry slope. These moai are upright so they can be finished and then walked out to their destination.

The landscape of Rapa Nui

Van Tilburg and Ralston’s sled and roller contraption method using an “average” ahu moai form. The wood is eucalyptus. The archaeological evidence for this is zero. (Photo from Ted Ralston)

Moai on Ahu Nau Nau

Ahu Tongariki

One face among many. This is an ahu moai given the carved eye sockets. Vinapu, south coast.

One alarming impact of increased storm surge over the past several decades has been the scouring of the coastline of all archaeological remains. Here is an ahu on the shore. The brown area at top has been wiped clean down to clay. All evidence of occupation— particularly water access— is long gone.

A fallen giant along the moai road. Note the base shape and forward lean. It’s not designed to stand upright.

A useful view of the Pavel Pavel method for “walking” a moai. There are 2 ropes pulling at an angle on the base. The moai swivels from side to side, grinding on its base. Movement was slow as the pullers had to overcome friction to do this. This moai has eyes: an ahu moai carved to stand upright.

One recent criticism of the “walking” hypothesis is that there are petroglyphs on the bases of moai. These folks argue that one wouldn’t put petroglyphs on moai bases if they are going to be walked. Of course, unless the petroglyphs are late additions (which they are).

The base end of a road moai: the forward lean meant that it was not able to stand up on its own— it was shaped to walk. The ahu moai have reshaped bases.

Radio: www.wamc.org/show/the-bes...

Ahu Tongariki

Petroglyphs on the seawall of Ahu Nau Nau

Question 16 – New insights? Q: How will this new research help to shed light on the mysteries of Rapa Nui? What are the most pressing questions about Rapa Nui that still persist? In other words, what about this culture continues to puzzle researchers, and will we ever have answers to these…

Question 15 – Material Acquisition Q: How did groups on Rapa Nui source the materials used to construct moai? Was there ever conflict over the acquisition of these materials, or over other factors involved in the construction of moai? A: Moai were carved from volcanic tuff at the Rano Raraku…

Question 14 – Centralized? Q: Why would Rapa Nui not have developed a more centralized society with a clear power structure? Did some families have more influence than others, being higher on a social ladder? A: The assumption that Rapa Nui required a centralized hierarchy stems from deeply…

Question 11 – New Ideas? Q: Many popular narratives about Easter Island rely on assumptions of societal collapse or rigid hierarchies. How do your findings challenge these assumptions, and what new picture Rapa Nui society emerges from your data? A: Our findings at Rano Raraku and in other studies…

Question 10 -No Hiearchy? Q: Based on these findings, you conclude that moai creation didn’t require hierarchical leadership. What does this decentralized production tell us about how Rapa Nui communities organized labor, shared knowledge, and cooperated on massive projects without centralized…

Question 9 – Work Areas? Q: You identified 30 distinct quarrying zones, each with different carving techniques. What specific clues in the 3D model told you these were truly independent work areas? A: The 3D model revealed that quarrying activities weren't continuous across Rano Raraku but…

Question 8 – Structure from What? Q: Can you explain how this “Structure-from-Motion” technique works and how it allowed you to see what archaeologists couldn’t see before? A: Structure-from-Motion (SfM) photogrammetry is essentially a technique that creates detailed 3D models from overlapping 2D…

Question 7 – What’s so important? Q: What is important about this study? A: In many ways, this paper just provides some basic documentation, but this "basic documentation" represents something far more profound—it's foundational work that should have been done decades ago but was impossible…

Question 6 – Inefficiency? Q: Couldn’t it be argued that the decentralisation was inefficient? A: Yes!—this is the crucial paradox that reveals the entire system's logic. The "inefficiency" wasn't a bug but the essential feature that made the monuments meaningful. The inefficiency IS the signal.…

Question 5 – Spirtuality? Q: Does your evidence for decentralisation help us understand the spirituality behind the moai? A: The decentralized production model offers valuable insights into the spiritual framework behind moai construction, suggesting that ancestor veneration operated at the…

3D model of the moai quarry at Rano Raraku

Question 4 – Competitive? Q: If it was decentralised then do you think the moai manufacture was competitive? A: Yes, I think the evidence strongly suggests competitive dynamics, but competition operating through heterarchical rather than hierarchical organization. Essentially, we see the record as…

Question 3 – How is this related to “collapse” Q: Does your finding help understand other contested issues on Rapa Nui, such as we have discussed before about the widely held misconception that there was a population collapse on the island? A: Absolutely. Our findings about decentralized…

All the other Possibilities When archaeologists raise the idea that "sleds" or "rollers" or "rafts" were used to transport moai, they are simply asserting notions and then looking for reasons to claim they are right. The sad thing is that these "notions" are not creative enough and don't really…

Question 2 – Why monumentality? Q: Why is it important for us to understand that the monumentality was decentralised, other than the fact that it is interesting? A: As Terry and I have recognized through our extensive fieldwork, understanding that Rapa Nui's monumentality was decentralized carries…

NEW from me - NSF cancels grant scheme for social science research. Seems the NSF quietly archived ALL calls for DDRIG grants in the SBE directorate. This is a massive blow for PhD students wanting to do cutting-edge social science research. 🏺🧪

Question 13 – Interaction? Q: It’s stated that Rapa Nui society consisted of small and independent family groups. To what extent did these groups interact, share cultural information, and collaborate on projects? And was constructing moai akin to a kind of family bonding tradition, with…

Common Questions (answered) As a result of the recent article in PLOS One, I have been asked a bunch of questions by reporters about our research. I thought it might be useful to share these questions and our responses. I'll do this as a series of posts. Now for our first question... Q: How would…

An overview theconversation.com/drones-physi...

Hot off the “presses”: journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...

Holiday reading: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/s...

Rats! medium.com/the-academic...

Rats! phys.org/news/2025-11...

Our recent paper brings our archaeological research on moai transport up to date and addresses some criticisms that have been levied at our ideas. One common one is that the Czech engineer Pavel Pavel showed the world this long ago and that our work is nothing new. But there is a big difference…

New paper on the rats of Rapa Nui… authors.elsevier.com/c/1lxR715SlU...

A new podcast … includes a discussion of Rapa Nui!