Thor Heyerdahl

1914-

Norwegian Explorer and Anthropologist

Thor Heyerdahl, nature lover and trained zoologist, made his greatest contribution to the field of anthropology, where he advanced highly debated theories on cultural diffusion—how ancient man migrated to and populated distant places. Heyerdahl often adopted facets of the lifestyle of the ancient people he was studying. He used only materials and techniques available to the ancients to construct sailing vessels,which Heyerdahl sailed on famous expeditions to help prove the possibility of transoceanic contact between ancient cultures and civilizations.

Heyerdahl was born in 1914 in Larvik, Norway. While spending time as a child in the local museum headed by his mother, Heyerdahl was intrigued by and studied natural plant and animal life. Gaining inspiration from his mother, Heyerdahl later studied zoology and geography at the University of Oslo.

In 1937 the newly married Heyerdahl ventured to Polynesia. There, after the Polynesian chief of Tahiti adopted Heyerdahl and his wife, he conducted research on the origins of animal life on an isolated island in the Marquesa Group. Heyerdahl described his life on the island as traditional Polynesian, and it was there that he first wondered how the inhabitants first came to the remote South Pacific. Current scientific theory held that the islands were populated by voyagers from Southeast Asia. Heyerdahl disputed this, after experiencing firsthand the strong easterly winds and currents while fishing. He reasoned that, instead of paddling against the currents, the first human settlers used the currents and winds to arrive from a westerly direction.

Heyerdahl first published his theory in 1941, claiming that the original Polynesian inhabitants came from the coasts of North and South America, and followed the North Pacific conveyor to reach Polynesia in two groups. The first, Heyerdahl proposed, came from Peru on balsa rafts. The second group reached Hawaii in double-canoes from British Columbia. Heyerdahl's research was met with skepticism from the scientific community. With the outbreak of World War II, Heyerdahl's research was interrupted. He returned home to Norway in 1941 to volunteer for the Norwegian Free Forces, serving in a paratrooper unit.

In 1947, with scholars still doubtful of Heyerdahl's contentions of the origin of Polynesian settlement, Heyerdahl decided to demonstrate the practicability of his hypothesis. Heyerdahl and a five-man crew built a balsa raft, named the Kon-Tiki, that was an exact replica of the rafts made by ancient Peruvian Indians. They then set sail from Callao, Peru, toward Polynesia in the replica craft. After a world famous three-month voyage of 4,300 miles (6,920 km), the Kon-Tiki arrived in the Tuamotu Islands of Polynesia. The seaworthiness of the ancient style of raft was proven, and the voyage gave credence to Heyerdahl's idea that ancient Peruvians could have reached Polynesia by this method.

Heyerdahl then conducted several archeological expeditions searching for remnants of South American culture in the Pacific. In 1952, in the Galapagos Islands, Heyerdahl's team found ancient South American ceramic pieces, as well as an ancient center-board used by South American sailors to navigate on their voyages. A famous expedition to Easter Island in 1955 found evidence of ancient water reeds and other South American plants once growing on the island, along with carvings in stone similar to those of ancient Peru. As Easter Island is one of the most isolated islands in the Pacific, South American remnants found there added further credibility to Heyerdahl's ideas of ancient migration. The Easter Island finds continue to be rigorously argued among scientists.

In 1969 and 1970 Heyerdahl returned to the sea aboard his Ra vessels, named after the Egyptian sun god. His purpose, much like that of the Kon-Tiki voyage, was to demonstrate the feasibility of cultural contact between early peoples. The Ra boats were made of reeds and constructed in Egypt by local boat builders. Hoping that the Ra vessels would show that communication between the ancient people of Africa and those of Central and South America was possible, he departed from Safi, Morocco, aboard the Ra and sailed 3,000 miles (4,828 km) before foundering due to design defects and unsuccessful cargo loading strategies. The Ra II was built by the Aymaro Indians and successfully made the voyage from Safi to Barbados in 57 days.

Both the Ra and Ra II flew the flag of the United Nations, and the Ra's crew consisted of seven men from seven different nations. Heyerdahl's writings contributed to the evolution and popularity of the study of ethnology. Heyerdahl's books include Kon-Tiki (1950), American Indians in the Pacific (1952), Sea Routes to Polynesia(1968), and The Ra Expeditions (1971). At the end of the twentieth century Heyerdahl was studying the ancient people of Tenerife Island, and working there to create a museum.