Every 60 minutes, 50 wheelbarrows of concrete were dumped into the mold. A
rebar (reinforcing bars) cage sat inside the moai-shaped mold, which was
buried in a hole. Two generator-powered mixers turned over and over as
Jan Van Tilburg,Ted Ralston,
and four Rapa Nui men fed them with the
specially calculated ingredients for a concrete Easter Island moai. As
moved a vibrating rod through the cement mixture to get rid of
air pockets, Santi Hito
distributed it evenly inside the fiberglass mold.
With a mix of local red scoria, sand, cement, and imported aggregate to
lighten the density, the concrete replica will be close in look, weight, and
texture to the volcanic tuff (hardened ash) of
Rano Raraku quarry, the ancient site
where most of Easter Island's moai were carved. In about three hours the
whole process was done and the mold was filled to the brim.
The next step is to let the concrete cure for three days before extracting
the moai from the mold. During those three days, Raphael Rapu will prepare
the ahu (platform) for the moai at Tongariki.
He and his crew are
gathering rock and dirt to build an ahu. A ramp must also be prepared
for the raising experiment. In the meantime, islanders are lining up to
take part in these experiments as pullers and helpers with levers. We'll
need 70 people to move the moai and an estimated 40 people for raising it.
Will this be enough? According to Raphael Rapu, who worked with Thor
Heyerdahl in an experiment to move a moai using ancient technology, it took
30 people eight hours to move a moai 444 yards (400 meters). Their statue
was standing up. Ours will be horizontal on logs and rollers.