Easter Island Red Hat Mystery Revealed

Today, a team of British archaeologists believe they have solved the mystery of how the giant stone statues of Easter Island, known as moai, acquired their red hats. This mystery was solved with the discovery of a nearby road on the small island. This road is constructed out of cement made from red scoria dust and has a raised platform along one side. The hats were constructed in a hidden quarry, known as Puna Pau, inside the crater of an ancient volcano. Dr. Sue Hamilton, of University College London, said that “The hat quarry is inside the crater of an ancient volcano and on its outer lip. A third of the crater has been quarried away by hat production”. There is also evidence that the quarry had been used to create statues before it had been used to build the hats. Once they were finished, the hats were rolled down the road either by hand or on top of logs to the current site of the statues. These hats were moved to their current location between 500 and 750 years ago. Once the hats were near the moai, they were lifted up and placed on the heads of the carved human statues. The moai themselves were standing upon large stone platforms that circle the island’s coast. However, we have yet to determine how the red hats, which weighed several tons, were raised and attached to the top of the human figures.

http://news.discovery.com/archaeology/easter-island-red-hats.html

Tyler L.
Period 5