Forgot your password?  

Not What You Meant?  There are 53 definitions for Ra.  Also try: Thor.

Thor Heyerdahl | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

Print-Friendly   Order the PDF version   Order the RTF version
About 8 pages (2,366 words)
Thor Heyerdahl Summary

Purchase our Thor Heyerdahl


Thor Heyerdahl

Born October 6, 1914, Larvik, Norway

Scientist and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl has spent much of his life trying to understand the history of people before they left written records. One question he has pondered is why certain native inhabitants of the islands of the Pacific, specifically the Polynesians, speak a single, separate language and differ so greatly in appearance from their neighbors in Micronesia and Melanesia. Did the Polynesians’ ancestors reach the Pacific by a different migratory route? Did they arrive not from the Asian mainland—as was traditionally thought—but by way of a long western journey across the ocean?

Heyerdahl has also tried to find a reason for the many shared cultural practices and beliefs of the great Indian civilizations of the Americas (such as the Aztec, Maya, and Inca) and the ancient peoples of the Middle East (such as the Egyptians). The Indians wrote in hieroglyphs or pictures, just as the Egyptians did. Their calendars were similar. And all worshipped a sun god, to whom they built great altars, temples, and pyramids. While traditional anthropological theories maintained that no ocean crossings were possible in ancient times—before the use of wooden boats—Heyerdahl wondered if such thinking was flawed.

This page contains 201 words.

Purchase our Thor Heyerdahl article Thor Heyerdahl article
Read the rest of this article.
This article contains 2,366 words (approx. 8 pages at 300 words per page).
Ask any question on Thor Heyerdahl and get it answered FAST!
Answer questions in BookRags Q&A and earn points toward
discounted or even FREE Study Guides and other BookRags products!
Learn more about BookRags Q&A
Copyrights
Thor Heyerdahl from Explorers and Discoverers. ©2005-2006 by U•X•L. U•X•L is an imprint of Thomson Gale, a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. All rights reserved.

Works by Author
Join BookRagslearn moreJoin BookRags

Join BookRagslearn moreJoin BookRags