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[Main page] 18th
of April 2002, 7 PM, Norwegian summer time: Thor Heyerdahl died peacefully
surrounded by his closest family in his Colla Micheri home, Italy.
Thor Heyerdahl, born in Larvik, Norway, in 1914 originally a zoology student,
travelled with his first wife, Liv, to Fatuhiva (Marquesas Islands) in order to
study wildlife in this part of the Pacific. However, he soon found himself
involved with other projects: How were the islands originally populated? The
consensus was that Polynesia had been populated from the west, but Heyerdahl
noticed that the provailing winds and currents ran from east to west so its
people could have travelled across the sea from South America. In 1947 he
mounted the Kon-Tiki expedition to prove that this was possible, using a copy of
the balsawood rafts used by the South American Indians in ancient times. This
adventure was followed by many more expeditions: trips to the Galapagos Islands
and Easter Island; voyages in the Ra I, Ra II and Tigris, and trips to the
Maldives, Easter Island again and then Peru (Túcume).
The Kon-Tiki expedition
The balsawood raft Kon-Tiki was built in Peru in 1947 using logs from Ecuador. A
crew of six (five Norwegians and one Swede) sailed her from Callao in Peru to
the reef of Raroia in Polynesia. In 101 days the Kon-Tiki put behind her around
5 000 miles of the Pacific Ocean. The expedition proved that Polynesia was
indeed within the range of balsawood rafts from South America. A documentary of
the voyage won two Academy Awards (Oscars) in 1951, and the book about the
expedition has hitherto been translated into 66 languages.
The Ra expeditions
With reliefs and wall paintings of papyrus vessels in ancient Egyptian tombs as
their guide, boat-builders from Chad were commisioned to build a 45 foot long
copy at the foot of the pyramides. Named after the ancient sun god Ra, the
vessel was transported to Safi, Morocco from where it set sail for Barbados.
After around 3 000 miles there were problems with the designs of the stern which
could not take the strain, and so the trip had to be abandoned -- just a week
from Barbados. Ten months later four Aymara Indians from Bolivia who still
mastered the traditional art of building reed boats built the Ra II, which went
on to complete a successfull transatlantic crossing, covering 4 000 miles to
Barbados in just 57 days.
Tigris
In order to prove that there could have been contact and crossfertilisation
between the great cultures of Mesopotamia, the Indus valley and Egypt across the
seas, in 1977 the Indians behind the Ra II built another boat, this time in Iraq
using the local berdi reeds. At over 50 foot long and with a crew of 11, the
Tigris was the largest reed craft Thor Heyerdahl had built. The expedition
headed down the river Tigris through the Persian Gulf and into the Indian Ocean
before the voyage came to a sudden end in Djibouti, at the entrance to the Read
Sea. Here Thor Heyerdahl set light to the boat in protest at the wars raging all
around at the time.
Easter Island
In 1955 Thor Heyerdahl travelled to Easter Island and Eastern Polynesia on a
trip which was self-financed but patronised by King Olav V of Norway.
Heyerdahl's archaeological excavations found that the famous Moai stone heads
were in fact huge statues buried in soil and quarry waste. Carved into one of
these stones was a depiction of a large papyrus boat with mast and sails. The
expedition also discovered some previously unknown types of statue reminiscent
of those found in South America. The members of the expedition also visited
secret family tombs where they found skeletons and small stone sculptures.
Túcume
Between 1988 and 1994 Thor Heyerdahl led archaeological excavations in Túcume,
Northern Peru. The area is home to 26 pyramid-like adobe structures and a range
of other ceremonial sites. Perhaps the most important find was a temple mound
where the walls were adorned with friezes in high relief which included
depistions of sea-going papyrus boats surrounded by birdman images of the same
kind as found on Easter Island.
Ongoing research
In the 80's the Kon-Tiki Museum returned to Easter Island. Alongside an attempt
to find out how the giant Moai statues were moved came excavation work focusing
on the island's oldest habitation and the famous Ahu temple platforms. The
Kon-Tiki Museum has ongoing research interests in the Pacific.
The Kon-Tiki Museum
The Kon-Tiki Museum (Oslo, Norway) houses a range of boats and artifacts from
Thor Heyerdahl's expeditions. Here you can see the original Kon-Tiki raft (1947)
with a 30 foot whale shark underneath, statues and a secret family tomb from
Easter Island (1956), the papyrus boat Ra (1970) and an exciting collection of
archaeological finds from Peru, Polynesia and Easter Island. There is also a new
touch screen video system and a cinema with continous showings. The Kon-Tiki
Museum is open all year round and is one of Norway's best visited museums (300
000--400 000 visitors a year).
Miscellaneous:
The Kon-Tiki crew
Thor Heyerdahl died peacefully surrounded by his closest
family on the 18th of April 2002 in his Colla Micheri home, Italy.
Knut Haugland, who played an important part in building up the Kon-Tiki
Museum, is also fit for his age. He still gives lectures about the expedition
from time to time, and visits the museum quite often.
Erik Hesselberg wrote the bestseller Kon-Tiki and I, an amusing
children's book illustrated with own drawings. The Kon-Tiki god that decorates
the sail of the raft is also his work. Hesselberg primarily worked as an artist
(paitings and sculptures). He introduced the Norwegian artist, Carl Nesjar, to
Pablo Picasso, and the three of them worked together for a couple of years. Erik
Hesselberg died in 1972.
Torstein Raaby died in 1964, 44 years old.
Herman Watzinger died in 1986, nearly 70 years old.
Bengt Danielsson, the only Swede on board, wrote lots of books about the
Pacific area and lived for many years down there. He died 4th of July 1997.
The Ra II crew
Thor Heyerdahl (Norway)
Norman Baker (USA)
Yuri Senkevitch (Russia)
Carlo Mauri (Italy)
Georges Sourial (Egypt)
Santiago Genovés (Mexico)
Madaui Ait Ouhauvei (Morocco)
Kei Ohara (Japan)
The Tigris crew
Thor Heyerdahl (Norway)
Germán Carrasco (Mexico)
Carlo Mauri (Italia)
Norman Baker (USA)
Yuri Senkevitch (Russia)
Hans Peter Bøhn (Norway)
Asbjørn Damhus (Denmark) Rashad Salim (Iraque) Toru
Suzuki (Japan) Norris Brock Detlef
Zoltzek (Germany)
Some of the information on these pages has been adapted from a pamphlet
issued by the Kon-Tiki Museum.
Links
Who2 Profile
on Thor Heyerdahl
The
BBC's obituary from April 2002
JRT
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