How to move /erect a Moai sized stone - by yourself!

One thing that is so intriguing about Easter Island, is the question of how did those people move those stone heads without modern technology?

This following clip is about a Michigan guy named Wally Wallington who is creating a replica of Stonehenge in his backyard. He has been able to move concrete blocks that weight more than 10 tons (just a bit smaller than a 14-ton Moai head), by himself, with no use of hoists, pulleys, or levers (and of course, no modern motor-driven tools).
http://youtube.com/watch?v=lRRDzFROMx0

His techniques appear to be similar to those that Thor Heyerdahl described in his book 'Aku Aku', except that the Heyerdahl pictures show at least 10 men and several wooden levers being used on the project - Wallington is doing this by himself, without levers. Heyerdahl's photos can be seen here .....
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=16397&forum=1

Additional footage of some of Wallington's methods can be found here ....
http://www.theforgottentechnology.com/

With all of the ingenuity and creative powers of the people of Tiki Central, I fully expect (and challenge) at least one of you to be inspired, and create your own home version of Easter Island

I, meanwhile, will continue to experiemnt with the hoisting of various one-ounce weights, as I further develop my own mai-tai recipes.

Vern

[ Edited by: ikitnrev 2008-03-25 08:08 ]

That's pretty cool.

When I used to teach pioneering at a Boy Scout camp we had this massive rock called the weather rock hanging out of a tree by rope. It had a corny sign on it: "when the rock is wet it is raining, rock is swinging it is very windy etc.".

One of the other councilors would get one of the kids in my class to cut it down every week as a prank, and I would have have my class haul this massive 800 pound rock back up into the tree using a spanish windlass. Just me and 10 little kids. You get two sticks and lash them together in a "T" shape and twist it into the rope. Then hold the base of the stick and turn the top part like a crank and wind the rope onto it.

When I was in college I hauled a friends car out of a ditch using one with just three people. If you used a device like this with a block and tackle pulley there is almost nothing you could not move provided you had strong enough rope.

Well, not exactly. He is using levers and pulleys, he's just doing it differently. He has made the entire block into a lever on a fulcrum. He used the rope wrapped around a log to get belt friction as a brake, which is a pulley of sorts. He's just sort of concentrated on fulcrums rather than levers.

A lot easier with rectangles than round logs or rounded Moai. But, you could perhaps build a rectangular frame around a round log.

Now I know how to get one of my mom's loaves of bread up to the second floor.

Wow, great post! I'm always looking for new ways to move the bigger logs I have with just one person! I've been using smaller logs the way he used the rock to change direction. Thanks for posting this!