Thor Heyerdahl

Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002), Norwegian anthropologist and explorer, best known for his theories about migration patterns of various ancient peoples.

Heyerdahl was born in Larvik, Norway, on October 6, 1914, and was educated at the University of Oslo. Hoping to prove that Native South Americans could have migrated to Pacific Islands, in 1947 Heyerdahl and a small crew successfully sailed the 6,920 km (4,300 mi) from Callao, Peru, to the Tuamotu Archipelago of Polynesia in 101 days on a balsa raft, named the Kon-Tiki, which was modeled after rafts used by ancient Peruvians. Heyerdahl led archaeological expeditions to the Galápagos Islands (1954) and to Easter Island and the East Pacific (1955-1956) to test the same theory of migration by South Americans.

To prove that ancient Egyptians could have reached South America and founded the Aztec and Inca cultures 4,000 years ago, Heyerdahl attempted to cross the Atlantic from North Africa in a papyrus boat (Ra I, 1969; Ra II, 1970). The first attempt foundered after 4,500 km (2,800 mi), but the second crossing achieved a safe landing at Bridgetown, Barbados, in 57 days. In the late 1970s Heyerdahl began a 9,980-km (6,200-mi) journey in a reed boat named the Tigris to demonstrate a possible migration route used 5,000 years ago by Sumerians traveling from Iraq to the Indian Ocean. This trip was abandoned because of fighting in Ethiopia that prohibited the boat's passage through the port of Massawa. Heyerdahl’s published works include Kon-Tiki (1948), Aku-Aku, The Secret of Easter Island (1958), Expedition Ra (1970), and Green Was the Earth on the Seventh Day (1996). His film of the Kon-Tiki voyage won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1951.