Easter Island statues, traditionally known as moai on the remote island of Rapa Nui in the South Pacific, are some of the most impressive artifacts of ancient Polynesian civilization. Lipo and his team systematically surveyed 962 moai statues on Easter Island, focusing primarily on 62 found along ancient roads. Rules of the RoadThe study discovered that moai statues positioned along Rapa Nui’s roads have common characteristics. The broad D-shaped base and forward leaning design of the statues optimized the moai for “walking,” even as they increased in size. This hypothesis is also supported by the ancient roads themselves, which are approximately 4.5 meters wide and have slightly concave cross-sections.