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| Norwegian Explorer and Archaeologist A modern-day Viking Thor Heyerdahl was born in Larvik, in Southern Norway, the 6th October 1914. He was an enthusiastic nature lover who inherited a passion for science from his mother, who gave him anthropology books to read when he was sick in bed. Heyerdahl, who specialized in zoology and geography at the University of Oslo, sailed into history in 1947 when he crossed the Pacific from Peru to Polynesia on a balsa wood raft. “I suffered from fear of the water”, he used to say. He had nearly drowned twice as a child in his home town Larvik and overcame his fear only at the age of 22. Heyerdahl believed that the Pacific had been settled by Polynesian navigators travelling from east to west, rather than the other way. He organised the Kon-Tiki expedition and risked his life sailing the ocean simply to prove that the ancient Peruvians could have reached Polynesia. However,
all the evidence - archaeological, linguistic and genetic - showed that the Pacific
had been colonised from the old world. But the Kon-Tiki expedition caught the
imagination of a world enduring post-war austerity; the book of the expedition
was a bestseller which sold 20 million copies in 67 languages, and the film of
the 101-day voyage won Thor Heyerdahl an Oscar in 1951 for best documentary.
The First Expeditions to Polynesia (1937-38) and The Kon-Tiki Expedition (1947) In 1936 the young student Heyerdahl left Oslo University to travel to the Marquesan archipelago in the Pacific to study the flora and fauna of this island group. He and his wife were adopted by the supreme Polynesian Chief of Tahiti, Teriieroo, who trained them in the Polynesian way of life, hunting and customs. While doing research on the transoceanic origins of the island's animal life, Heyerdahl realised that the Pacific currents ran from east to west and that many local plants were identical to those of South America. Although the prevailing opinion among scientists was that Polynesia was populated from the west, Heyerdahl was convinced that human settlers had come to Polynesia with the ocean currents from the South American continent, just as the flora and fauna had done. His research was interrupted by the outbreak of the Second World War, and Heyerdahl returned to Norway to fight for the Free Norwegian Forces in a parachute unit in Finnmark. But
in 1947 he set out on the Kon-Tiki Expedition to prove his idea on human migration
to Polynesia, building a replica of the balsa wood rafts used by the South American
Indians in ancient times. Heyerdahl and five companions left Peru and crossed
8000 km in 101 days to reach Raroia atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago. Experts had said
the balsa raft would get water logged and sink within days, but Heyerdahl proved
them wrong and became a popular hero worldwide.
The Galapagos Expedition (1952) and the Easter Island Expedition (1955-56) Following the success of the Kon-Tiki Expedition, Heyerdahl led the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to the Galapagos Islands, where he found large quantities of pre-Incan ceramics. Later in 1955 Heyerdahl directed the first co-ordinated excavations of the Pacific's most isolated island: Easter Island. The expedition discovered that the abandoned island had once been forested and that its original inhabitants had planted water-reeds and other South American plants. Excavations indicated that some ancient stone carvings on Easter Island were similar to ancient traditions in Peru and carbon dating showed that the Island had been occupied from about 380 A.D., about one thousand years earlier than scientists previously believed. The
results of Heyerdahl's work were presented at the Tenth Pacific Science Congress
in Honolulu in 1961 where they were widely supported by the attendants. Heyerdahl's
eastern migration theory had gained at that point considerable influence.
The RA Expeditions (1969-70) Thor Heyerdahl claimed that the world's oceans should be treated as one vast highway, “That was how ancient civilisations saw them. Modern people should be more ready to think in ancient terms”, he said Continuing his research on ancient navigation and trying to link pyramid cultures in Egypt, Peru, Mexico and Tenerife, Heyerdahl tried to show that ancient Egyptians might have beaten Columbus and the Vikings to America. In 1969, he bought 12 tons of papyrus and worked with experts to construct an ancient-style Egyptian vessel. The Ra Expedition departed from Morocco under the UN flag, with a crew of seven men from seven countries. They sailed 5000 km in 56 days until storms caused the team to abandon their goal only one week short of Barbados. But ten months later, Heyerdahl tried it a second time and crossed the widest part of the Atlantic from Africa to the West Indies. Once again, he showed that modern science underestimated long-forgotten aboriginal technologies. Eight
years later Heyerdahl embarked on another expedition, the Tigris, on a journey
in the Middle East from the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, down the Persian Gulf
across the Indian Ocean. In Djibouti the Tigris was prevented from entering the
Red Sea by the military and Heyerdahl burned the vessel in an emotional protest
against war. The Tigris expedition lasted five months and was meant to show how
the ancient Sumerians could have travelled widely following ancient trade routes.
Norwegian of the Century Although he lived and worked abroad for decades, Heyerdahl was a national hero in Norway, where one newspaper declared him ‘Norwegian of the Century’ after a millennium poll of readers. He fronted the opening ceremony for the Lillehammer Winter Olympic Games in Norway in 1994, and received the Norwegian Peer Gynt Prize in 1999. Thor Heyerdahl was a member of many international scientific congresses and institutions and did receive many honours and awards. He was the leader of archaeological projects in the Maldives, Easter Island, and at the pyramidal area of Tacume in Peru, and, although his archaeological studies were often controversial, his pioneering spirit and determination endeared him to millions. Thor Heyerdahl was a committed internationalist, a promoter of cooperation and understanding between peoples across the world. He always sailed with a multinational crew and always flew the flag of the United Nations in his expeditions. He also promoted a better understanding of nature and raised concern at the increasing problem of pollution. “We seem to believe the ocean is endless, but we use it like a sewer”, he said. Heyerdahl was busy working, lecturing and travelling as an active participant in archaeological expeditions until he became ill. Even after having a major cancer operation in 2001 he still remained active, and his wife Jacqueline said he boarded 70 flights in 2001. Heyerdahl
passed away at his family home in Italy after a long battle against cancer. He
stopped taking food, water and medication, and prepared for death. He died surrounded
by his family the 18th April 2002. He is survived by his wife, Jacqueline, four
of his five children, eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
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