Easter hats are nice. Easter Island hats, however, are a pain.
Carved from sharp volcanic rock and more than 700 years old, the stone formations can weigh upwards of 13 tons. Archaeologists have long wondered how these stone hats, which sit atop the heads of the famous Easter Island statues, were put into place with 13th-century technology.
Wonder no more. Using old-school archaeological techniques and cutting-edge 3D computer modeling, researchers have finally solved the mystery of the Easter Island hats. The short answer: Ropes and ramps. But the long answer has some interesting specifics.
Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, rises from the waves about 2,000 miles from Chile. The island's famous statues have been studied by various teams of archaeologists and geologists since the 18th century. Previous studies determined that the statues are made of from one quarry on the island, while the hats come from a different quarry, seven miles away on the other side of the island.
We know, more or less, how the statues were carved and transported. But those hats have been a matter of contention for several decades. Archaeological evidence shows that the hat structures were carved independently from the statues and somehow dropped into place atop the famous stone sentinels.
Previous theories suggested that the statues and the hats were fixed together before they were lifted in place, but later studies of other abandoned statues concluded this was not the case. Complicating the mystery, several unattached hats left around the island are much larger than those placed on statues.