NOVA/PBS Online Adventures Travels to Easter Island

Posted on April 1, 1998

On April 17, NOVA/PBS Online Adventures travels to Easter Island with a Web site dedicated to exploring one of civilization's greatest enigmas. Secrets of Easter Island will take the Internet audience on a series of adventures, along the way attempting to unlock some of the islands well-kept and most enigmatic secrets.

Archaeologist Jo Anne Van Tilburg has spent the last 15 years studying the mysterious statues of Easter Island. Working with robotics expert Zvi Shiller at UCLA, Van Tilburg has used computers to simulate her theories on how the statues were transported and erected and has found what may be the answer to the riddle that stumped Heyerdahl and others. Beginning in mid-April, Van Tilburg, several other experts, and a team of about 75 local Easter Islanders will have three weeks to put her theory to the test. Using only the types of tools available to the original Easter Islanders, the crew will attempt to transport a 15-ton, 14-foot high replica of a statue to its "Ahu" platform, erect it, and place a 3-ton "top knot" on the head.

Viewers can follow the action in real-time with daily updates of text and pictures from the field, send in their own suggestions on how to move and erect the statue, and explore suggestions from other contributors. Also available on this website will be permanent features on everything from ancient nautical practices, QuickTime VRs of the Island, and a Moai statue, theories on who the original Easter Islanders were, how they got there, and what happened to their civilization.

NOVA Online provides a companion Web site for each week's NOVA broadcast, program schedules, teacher guides, audience feedback, and links to related sites. In addition, NOVA Online joins with PBS to bring you images and reports from live expeditions around the globe. NOVA Online appears on PBS Online.