Head's Up

Easter Island Heads, from here.

Pretty much everyone knows these guys, right? The Easter Island "heads" as they are creatively called? Turns out, you think you know.... but you have no idea.

Stripped, from here.

Um, yeah. They have bodies. Big bodies. And guessing by the outfits on those archaeologists, this isn't news. But if it wasn't for this Mental Floss article last week, I wouldn't have known (and I bet you wouldn't have either). So, thanks Internet!

Some other factoids:

1. The real name for the statues are Moai.

2.The Moai represent deified, ancestral cheiftans and served to guard the lands of their tribes.

3. The head's of the Moai are overly large, almost 3/5ths the size of their bodies. Kind of like this guy

David, from here.

...but not as hot.

4. The heaviest Moai weighed over 82 tons. Many theories exist to explain how the statues were moved all across the island. I like the one that says a witch did it. But archaeologists mostly agree that using log-rollers was more likely.

5. The fact that abandoned tools and uncompleted sculptures were found deposited at the island's quarry led early explores to believe in some wild theories, including the idea that the island was part of the continent of Mu which had been home to the predecessors of most advanced ancient civilizations before it sank into the ocean. Really, read up on this, it's pretty fascinating.

From here.

There you go! Brain food for you on a dreary Monday. Now, don't say you didn't learn something today!