Writers Almanac August 7 ~ Thor Heyerdahls 4,300-mile journey across the Pacific Ocean ended on this date in 1947. His balsa-wood raft, the Kon-Tiki, smashed into a reef in French Polynesia. Heyerdahl had been trained as a zoologist, but had developed a strong interest in cultural anthropology. He and his bride spent their honeymoon living primitively on the island of Fatu Hiva, in the Marquesas Islands. They studied the local plant and animal life for a year. Heyerdahl served as a parachutist during World War II and never really stopped thinking about Polynesia. He came up with the theory that the islands had been populated by people from Peru, coming from east to west on the ocean currents, much as the flora and fauna had done. Scientists believed that the Polynesian people had originated in South Asia, and they scoffed at the idea that it was even possible for pre-Columbians to cross the Pacific Ocean with materials available to them at that time. Heyerdahl couldnt get any publishers or researchers to take his theory seriously, so he decided he would prove it by an actual demonstration instead. Heyerdahl convinced five of his friends to join him on a daring expedition to test his theory. Besides Heyerdahl, the crew consisted of a navigator and artist; a steward; two radio experts; and an engineer who specialized in technical measurements. Funded by private loans, they built a 40-foot raft of balsa logs lashed together with hemp ropes, with gaps between the logs for the water to drain out. The cabin was built of bamboo and had a thatched roof of banana leaves. The mast was made of planks of mangrove, and it held a square sail. No metal was used in the rafts construction. It was a replica of the type of raft that native Peruvians would have used in the early 1500s, based on reports by Spanish conquistadores, and Heyerdahl named it Kon-Tiki after an Incan sun god who walked across the Pacific. Heyerdahl and his crew did carry some modern technology, like a radio, navigational equipment, and watches, as well as emergency survival equipment. They also brought coconuts, sweet potatoes, gourds, and some tinned army rations, which they supplemented with fish they caught along the way. In 101 days, the raft traveled 4,300 nautical miles, weathered two major storms, and made it all the way to the coral island of Raroia, near Tahiti, proving that Peruvian Incans could have made the voyage themselves. Heyerdahl wrote a book about the adventure: The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas (1948), and made an Oscar-winning documentary film of the same name. Heyerdahl was a gifted storyteller, and his story was hugely popular with the public, but scientists were unconvinced. They believed that Polynesian language and culture point to Asian, not American, origins. One critic wrote, It is unfortunate that he has allowed his obsession with a South American connection to overshadow the far more interesting and important subjects of the islanders cultural history, way of life, and destruction of their environment. Heyerdahl was never discouraged, and he used the royalties from the book to fund further expeditions: to the Galapagos Islands, to Easter Island, and across the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. He sailed a reed boat from Egypt to Barbados in 57 days in an attempt to prove that South American pyramids were inspired by their Egyptian counterparts. He was well into his 60s when he retired, saying that there were no other oceans to cope with and no more early boat designs that hadnt already been tested. He said: I have challenged a lot of old dogma, and this has stimulated a lot of discussion. And in science you need discussion. In 2011, nine years after Heyerdahls death, Norwegian scientist Erik Thorsby presented evidence that shows a small amount of South American DNA in the genetic make-up of Easter Islanders, which lends some scientific support to Heyerdahls theory, even if it doesnt fully vindicate him. Heyerdahl was wrong, Thorsby said, but not completely.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 12:55:00 +0000
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