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89-408: The historical facts, if any, behind this story are disputed. Since the victorious "Hanau momoko" are usually assumed to be the surviving Polynesian population, there has been much speculation about the identity of the vanished Hanau epe. Various theories have been put forward, most notably Thor Heyerdahl 's claim that they were ancient migrants from Peru who were the original occupants of the island and

178-488: A Polynesian double-hulled wa'a kaulua voyaging canoe, from Hawaiʻi to Tahiti was partly a demonstration to prove that Heyerdahl was wrong. The Hōkūleʻa sailed against prevailing winds and exclusively used wayfinding and celestial Polynesian navigation techniques (unlike the modern equipment and charts of the Kon-Tiki ). Hōkūleʻa also remains fully operational, and has since completed ten other voyages, including

267-530: A basic lack of scientific methodology in his work. His central claims were based on similarities of names in Norse mythology and geographic names in the Black Sea region, e.g. Azov and Æsir , Udi and Odin, Tyr and Turkey . Philologists and historians reject these parallels as mere coincidences, and also anachronisms, for instance the city of Azov did not have that name until over 1,000 years after Heyerdahl claims

356-552: A chieftain led his people in a migration from the east, westward and northward through Saxony , to Fyn in Denmark , and eventually settling in Sweden . Heyerdahl claimed that the geographic location of the mythic Aser or Æsir matched the region of contemporary Azerbaijan – "east of the Caucasus mountains and the Black Sea". "We are no longer talking about mythology," Heyerdahl said, "but of

445-491: A layer of ash from the ditch to 1676, apparently confirming the story of a fire there at around the time the battle is supposed to have taken place. However, in 1993 Jo Anne Van Tilburg, writing in the journal Archaeology stated, "Excavations by the University of Chile of the so-called Poike Ditch have failed to come up with the charcoal and bone to prove that such a legendary battle actually took place." It has been suggested that

534-464: A long ditch, which they turned into a firewall. They intended to kill the Hanau momoko by burning them in the fire-ditch. The Hanau momoko found a way round the ditch, attacking the Hanau epe from behind, and pushing them into their own inferno. All but two of the Hanau epe were killed and were buried in the ditch. The two escaped to a cave, at which one was found and killed, leaving only one survivor. The ditch

623-550: A lot of the choices. But there were so many circumstances that went against that picture that it overwhelmed it, ultimately, and it was not close enough to what I wanted it to be." The film can be considered a condensed history of the collapse of the Easter Island civilization. The struggle between the Long Ears and Short Ears is derived from the legend of the hanau epe (long ears), who are supposed to have been almost all killed by

712-407: A much smaller population consisting mainly of Polynesians and living in privation. Heyerdahl notes the oral tradition of an uprising of "Short Ears" against the ruling "Long Ears." The "Long Ears" dug a defensive moat on the eastern end of the island and filled it with kindling. During the uprising, Heyerdahl claimed, the "Long Ears" ignited their moat and retreated behind it, but the "Short Ears" found

801-481: A new land. Director Kevin Reynolds came across the script for Rapa Nui in 1985 and spent the next decade attempting to get the film made. Later Reynolds said singled out Rapa-Nui as his "worst" film: "I didn’t succeed, because I didn’t come close enough to what I’d originally intended, tried to do. I could blame it on a lot of circumstances and ultimately I have to take some responsibility for it myself, because I made

890-580: A race of "white bearded men" who supposedly originally sailed from Peru . He described these "Tiki people" as being a sun-worshipping fair-skinned people with blue eyes, fair or red hair, tall statures, and beards. He further said that these people were originally from the Middle East , and had crossed the Atlantic earlier to found the great Mesoamerican civilizations . By 500 CE, a branch of these people were supposedly forced out into Tiahuanaco where they became

979-495: A radio". Residents in Tahiti, where they stopped en route, did convince them to take a machete and a cooking pot. They arrived at Fatu Hiva in 1937, in the valley of Omo‘a , and decided to cross over the island's mountainous interior to settle in one of the small, nearly abandoned, valleys on the eastern side of the island. There, they made their thatch -covered stilted home in the valley of Uia . Living in such primitive conditions

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1068-433: A three-year circumnavigation of the planet from 2014 to 2017, with other sister ships. Heyerdahl's hypothesis was part of early Eurocentric hyperdiffusionism and the westerner disbelief that ( non-white ) "stone-age" peoples with "no math" could colonize islands separated by vast distances of ocean water, even against prevailing winds and currents. He rejected the highly skilled voyaging and navigating traditions of

1157-461: A way around it, came up from behind, and pushed all but two of the "Long Ears" into the fire. This moat was found by the Norwegian expedition and it was partly cut down into the rock. Layers of fire were revealed but no fragments of bodies. The basis of the Kon-Tiki expedition was Heyerdahl's belief that the original inhabitants of Easter Island (and the rest of Polynesia ) were the "Tiki people",

1246-472: Is about as plausible as the tales of Atlantis , Mu , and 'Children of the Sun.' Like most such theories, it makes exciting light reading, but as an example of scientific method it fares quite poorly." Anthropologist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Wade Davis also criticised Heyerdahl's theory in his 2009 book The Wayfinders , which explores the history of Polynesia. Davis says that Heyerdahl "ignored

1335-611: Is anachronistically combined with other Easter Island traditions, in particular the race for the sooty tern 's egg in the Birdman Cult . These are all linked to the history of the island's deforestation. The ethnic conflict is also referenced in the Chilean animated film, Ogu and Mampato in Rapa Nui . Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl KStJ ( Norwegian pronunciation: [tuːr ˈhæ̀ɪəɖɑːɫ] ; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002)

1424-412: Is based on Rapa Nui legends of Easter Island , Chile , in particular the race for the sooty tern 's egg in the Birdman Cult . The historic details of this film are questionable, and though the central theme—the destruction of the island's irreplaceable forests—is well-authenticated, the idea that this led to the destruction of the Rapa Nui is questionable. The struggle in the story is derived from

1513-407: Is brought from the cave, pale from her long underground stay and obviously pregnant. Before anything is decided about the fate of Ramana or Make, an iceberg is spotted off the coast. Ariki-mau believes that the iceberg is the great white canoe sent to take him to the gods and goes out to it with some of his followers. After the iceberg has carried Ariki-mau away, the advisor attempts to seize control of

1602-447: Is in error, and that the terms should refer to stocky or stout peoples, and slim peoples. An alternative hypothesis is that Hanau ‘E‘epe or Hanau Epe may be an abbreviation of te hanau he epe roa , "the race with the long earlobes", with he being shortened to ‘e and roa being dropped entirely. Whether any battle took place at the Poike ditch itself is disputed. A study in 1961 dated

1691-412: Is possible that the legend recalls an actual conflict that took place north of Tongariki between these two 'nations', perhaps as early as the sixteenth century." It has also been argued that the difference was one of class, not race, territory or culture. One view is that the "thin" or "short eared" Hanau momoko were of lower social status, while the well-fed "sturdy" or adorned "long eared" Hanau epe were

1780-629: Is watching Ramana being lowered to the cave, that she isn't right for the Virgin's Cave and that it will be their secret. Ramana takes one last look at the sunset and goes into the cave. Noro approaches Ramana's banished father, a canoe maker, and asks him to help him train for the Birdman competition. He initially refuses, because it is Noro's fault that his daughter is confined to a cave, but later relents and trains Noro. While training Noro he explains that he and Noro's father were great friends once and that he gave

1869-578: The Kon-Tiki . The Kon-Tiki expedition was inspired by old reports and drawings made by the Spanish Conquistadors of Inca rafts, and by native legends and archaeological evidence suggesting contact between South America and Polynesia . The Kon-Tiki smashed into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotus on 7 August 1947 after a 101-day, 4,300-nautical-mile (5,000-mile or 8,000 km) journey across

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1958-566: The Acali Experiment . After a number of weeks, Ra took on water. The crew discovered that a key element of the Egyptian boatbuilding method had been neglected, a tether that acted like a spring to keep the stern high in the water while allowing for flexibility. Water and storms eventually caused it to sag and break apart after sailing more than 6,400 km (4,000 miles). The crew was forced to abandon Ra, some hundred miles (160 km) before

2047-586: The Austronesian peoples and instead argued that Polynesia was settled from boats following the wind and currents for navigation from South America. As such, the Kon-Tiki was deliberately a primitive raft and unsteerable, in contrast to the sophisticated outrigger canoes and catamarans of the Austronesian people. Anthropologist Robert Carl Suggs included a chapter titled "The Kon-Tiki Myth" in his 1960 book on Polynesia, concluding that "The Kon-Tiki theory

2136-577: The Bering land bridge into Northwest America before sailing westward towards Polynesia (the westward direction is because he refused to accept that Polynesians were capable of sailing against winds and currents). He associated them with the Tlingit and Haida peoples and characterized them as "inferior" to the Tiki people. Despite these claims, DNA sequence analysis of Easter Island's current inhabitants indicates that

2225-528: The Hanau epe and Hanau momoko was a memory of conflicts between the original inhabitants of the island and a later wave of "Native Americans" from the Northwest coast, eventually leading to the annihilation of the Hanau epe and the destruction of the island's culture and once-prosperous economy. Heyerdahl described these later "Native American" migrants as "Maori-Polynesians" who were supposedly Asians who crossed over

2314-640: The Kon-Tiki Museum research department.) After seven terms and consultations with experts in Berlin , a project was developed and sponsored by Heyerdahl's zoology professors, Kristine Bonnevie and Hjalmar Broch. He was to visit some isolated Pacific island groups and study how the local animals had found their way there. On the day before they sailed together to the Marquesas Islands in 1936, Heyerdahl married Liv Coucheron-Torp (1916–1969), whom he had met at

2403-514: The Marquesas , most of the time on Fatu Hiva , were told first in his book På Jakt etter Paradiset ( Hunt for Paradise ) (1938), which was published in Norway but, following the outbreak of World War II , was never translated and remained largely forgotten. Many years later, having achieved notability with other adventures and books on other subjects, Heyerdahl published a new account of this voyage under

2492-551: The Pacific Ocean . Heyerdahl had nearly drowned at least twice in childhood and did not take easily to water; he said later that there were times in each of his raft voyages when he feared for his life. Heyerdahl's book about The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas has been translated into 70 languages. The documentary film of the expedition entitled Kon-Tiki won an Academy Award in 1951. A dramatised version

2581-553: The Pyramids of Güímar on Tenerife and declared that they were not random stone heaps but pyramids. Based on the discovery made by the astrophysicists Aparicio, Belmonte and Esteban, from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias that the "pyramids" were astronomically orientated and being convinced that they were of ancient origin, he claimed that the ancient people who built them were most likely sun worshippers. Heyerdahl hypothesised that

2670-649: The Ra II expedition of 1970, when he sailed from the west coast of Africa to Barbados in a papyrus reed boat. He was appointed a government scholar in 1984. He died on 18 April 2002 in Colla Micheri , Italy, while visiting close family members. The Norwegian government gave him a state funeral in Oslo Cathedral on 26 April 2002. In May 2011, the Thor Heyerdahl Archives were added to UNESCO 's Memory of

2759-655: The Sea of Azov at the northeast of the Black Sea . He searched for the remains of a civilisation to match the account of Odin in Snorri Sturlusson, significantly further north of his original target of Azerbaijan on the Caspian Sea only two years earlier. This project generated harsh criticism and accusations of pseudoscience from historians, archaeologists and linguists in Norway, who accused Heyerdahl of selective use of sources, and

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2848-628: The Tigris was deliberately burnt in Djibouti on 3 April 1978 as a protest against the wars raging on every side in the Red Sea and Horn of Africa . In his Open Letter to the UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim , Heyerdahl explained his reasons: Today we burn our proud ship ... to protest against inhuman elements in the world of 1978 ... Now we are forced to stop at the entrance to

2937-738: The United Nations . Heyerdahl built yet another reed boat in 1977, Tigris , which was intended to demonstrate that trade and migration could have linked Mesopotamia with the Indus Valley civilization in what is now Pakistan and western India. Tigris was built in Al Qurnah Iraq and sailed with its international crew through the Persian Gulf to Pakistan and made its way into the Red Sea. After about five months at sea and still remaining seaworthy,

3026-464: The hanau momoko (short ears), leaving a sole survivor, as in the film. Interpretations of this story have been made, ranging from a class struggle, similar to that depicted in the film, to a clash between migrant people, with incomers fighting natives. There is no single accepted interpretation, and many scholars consider the story to be either pure myth, or such a garbled version of real events as to be ultimately indecipherable. It has been argued that

3115-532: The 36 people living on Rapa Nui who survived the devastating internecine wars, slave raids, and epidemics of the 19th century and had any offspring were Polynesian. Furthermore, examination of skeletons offers evidence of only Polynesian origins for Rapa Nui living on the island after 1680. Heyerdahl's hypothesis of Polynesian origins from the Americas is considered pseudoscientific , racially controversial , and has not gained acceptance among scientists (even prior to

3204-537: The Birdman (Island King) for 20 years. He has a conviction that one day the gods will arrive in a great white canoe and take him to heaven. Tupa ( George Henare ), his advisor tells him to build more and bigger moai statues to curry favor with the gods and encourage them to come sooner. Ariki-mau petulantly rejects the latest statue—which stands over 20 feet (6.1 m) tall—as too small. The Short Ear workers are forced to build an even bigger statue in an impossibly short amount of time. The king's advisor ruthlessly enforces

3293-472: The Birdman Competition so Ariki-mau can continue to rule the island. Noro asks if he can marry Ramana if he wins the Birdman Competition. The king reluctantly agrees. The king's advisor claims that Ramana's skin is too dark and that she should be purified by spending the time from now until the Birdman Competition (six months) in the "Virgin’s Cave". He checks her virginity and snidely remarks to Noro, who

3382-730: The Canarian pyramids formed a temporal and geographic stopping point on voyages between ancient Egypt and the Maya civilization , initiating a controversy in which historians, esoterics, archaeologists, astronomers, and those with a general interest in history took part. Rapa Nui (film) Rapa-Nui is a 1994 American historical action-adventure film directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-produced by Kevin Costner , who starred in Reynolds's previous film, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991). The plot

3471-550: The Caribbean islands, and was saved by a yacht. The following year, 1970, a similar vessel, Ra II , was built from Ethiopian papyrus by Bolivian citizens Demetrio, Juan and José Limachi of Lake Titicaca , and likewise set sail across the Atlantic from Morocco, this time with great success. The crew was mostly the same; though Djibrine had been replaced by Kei Ohara from Japan and Madani Ait Ouhanni from Morocco. The boat became lost and

3560-546: The Hanau epe reached Easter Island. The first is that they arrived some time after the local Polynesians and tried to enslave them. However, some earlier accounts place the Hanau epe as the original inhabitants, and the Polynesians as later immigrants from Rapa Iti . Alternatively, the "epe" and "momoku" may simply have been two groups or factions within the Polynesian population. One version states that both groups originated from

3649-518: The Hanau epe were the earliest inhabitants of the island; they created its unique monuments, which resemble similar sculptures found in the Americas, but were eventually killed off by either the Polynesians or a later wave of migrants from the Northwest coast of America. Wilhelm and Sandoval in 1966 took the view that they came later than the followers of Hotu Matua, possibly another wave of Polynesians. Rupert Ivan Murrill, writing in 1969, argued that both groups were Polynesians. Most evidence suggests that

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3738-767: The King gives in to their demands after realizing that if the Short Ears die no one will build the moai. The King, however, only allows them to compete after the moai has been completed. He makes the condition that if the Short Ear competitor loses he will be sacrificed. Despite these conditions Make accepts the position of the Birdman Competitor on the condition he be allowed to marry Ramana if he wins. The King agrees and Make spends all his time working and training, leaving no time for sleep or other recreational activities. Meanwhile, work on

3827-647: The Long Ears. The resources of the island are being rapidly used up and depleted (with the last remaining tree being cut down), due to the extensive moai construction and overpopulation . Noro is the only person worried about the resource depletion, but his concerns are dismissed by the increasingly senile Ariki-mau. Noro sneaks some food to his Short Ear friend Make ( Esai Morales ) and shares his plans to marry Ramana. Make reacts badly and Noro realizes that Make loves her, too. Make declares that they are no longer friends and runs off. Separately, Noro and Make visit Ramana at her cave, bringing her food and talking to her through

3916-566: The Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island and the East Pacific ) and Heyerdahl later added a third ( The Art of Easter Island ). Heyerdahl's popular book on the subject, Aku-Aku was another international best-seller. In Easter Island: The Mystery Solved (Random House, 1989), Heyerdahl offered a more detailed theory of the island's history . Based on native testimony and archaeological research, he claimed

4005-402: The Polynesians had golden-brown skin, raven-black hair, and rather flat noses. Heyerdahl claimed that when Jacob Roggeveen discovered Easter Island in 1722, he supposedly noticed that many of the natives were white-skinned. Heyerdahl claimed that these people could count their ancestors who were "white-skinned" right back to the time of Tiki and Hotu Matua , when they first came sailing across

4094-423: The Red Sea. Surrounded by military airplanes and warships from the world's most civilised and developed nations, we have been denied permission by friendly governments, for reasons of security, to land anywhere, but in the tiny, and still neutral, Republic of Djibouti. Elsewhere around us, brothers and neighbours are engaged in homicide with means made available to them by those who lead humanity on our joint road into

4183-478: The University of Oslo, and who had studied economics there. He was 22 years old and she was 20 years old. Eventually, the couple had two sons: Thor Jr. (1938–2024) and Bjørn (1940–2021). The marriage ended in divorce shortly before the 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition, which Liv had helped to organize. After the occupation of Norway by Nazi Germany , he served with the Free Norwegian Forces from 1944, in

4272-590: The World Register . At the time, this list included 238 collections from all over the world. The Heyerdahl Archives span the years 1937 to 2002 and include his photographic collection, diaries, private letters, expedition plans, articles, newspaper clippings, and original book and article manuscripts. The Heyerdahl Archives are administered by the Kon-Tiki Museum and the National Library of Norway in Oslo. Heyerdahl

4361-417: The barrier at the mouth of the cave. They both declare their love to her. She always responds, but she sounds despondent. After a supply shortage results in the death of one of the Short Ears (Heki, the former master carver), they demand half of the wood, food and other materials and that they be allowed to compete in the Birdman Competition. The King's advisor initially refuses and orders their death. However,

4450-484: The canoe to Noro's father. He further explains that Noro's father sailed away after discovering a piece of a shipwrecked Spanish galleon , thus breaking the long-held belief that Rapa Nui is the only land left with people on the Earth. Meanwhile, the Short Ears are beginning to starve because the king insists on them working on the new statue instead of growing food but continues taking the full quota of their remaining food for

4539-417: The creators of its famous stone monuments. Heyerdahl's theories have not received much support among modern scholars, many of whom doubt whether the events described in the story ever took place. It has also been argued that the traditional designations of "long ears" and "short ears" derive from a misinterpretation of similar-sounding words meaning "stocky" and "slim" peoples. There are two legends about how

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4628-486: The day after his marriage to Liv Coucheron Torp, the young couple set out for the South Pacific Island of Fatu Hiva . They nominally had an academic mission, to research the spread of animal species between islands, but in reality they intended to "run away to the South Seas" and never return home. Aided by expedition funding from their parents, they nonetheless arrived on the island lacking "provisions, weapons or

4717-487: The ditch was in fact used to hold a series of earth ovens , or cooking pits, to prepare food for workers in a nearby quarry. Various theories have been put forward to explain the alleged ethnic difference between the two groups. Thor Heyerdahl popularised the view that they were a South American indigenous people, who were pale skinned with red hair. Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki expedition was designed to show that migrants from Peru could have reached Polynesia. He believed that

4806-464: The faculty of biological science at the University of Oslo . At the same time, he privately studied Polynesian culture and history, consulting what was then the world's largest private collection of books and papers on Polynesia, owned by Bjarne Kroepelien , a wealthy wine merchant in Oslo. (This collection was later purchased by the University of Oslo Library from Kroepelien's heirs and was attached to

4895-913: The far north province of Finnmark . In 1949, Heyerdahl married Yvonne Dedekam-Simonsen (1924–2006). They had three daughters: Annette, Marian, and Helene Elisabeth. They were divorced in 1969. Heyerdahl blamed their separation on his being away from home and differences in their ideas for bringing up children. In his autobiography, he concluded that he should take the entire blame for their separation. In 1991, Heyerdahl married Jacqueline Beer (born 1932) as his third wife. They lived in Tenerife , Canary Islands , and were very actively involved with archaeological projects, especially in Túcume , Peru, and Azov until his death in 2002. He had still been hoping to undertake an archaeological project in Samoa before he died. In 1936, on

4984-457: The film documentary Ra (1972) were made about the voyages. Apart from the primary aspects of the expedition, Heyerdahl deliberately selected a crew representing a great diversity in race , nationality , religion and political viewpoint in order to demonstrate that, at least on their own little floating island, people could co-operate and live peacefully. Additionally, the expedition took samples of marine pollution and presented its report to

5073-420: The great moai has become so important that the Short Ears sacrifice their food to complete it. Finally it is the Birdman Competition. Nine competitors must swim to a close by islet surrounded by pounding surf, climb the cliffs to get an egg from the nest of a sooty tern and bring it back. The first to return wins for his tribe. Noro barely wins and Ariki-mau gets to be the island's ruler for another year. Ramana

5162-525: The history of ancient Nordic Kings. He spoke of a notation made by Snorri Sturluson , a 13th-century historian-mythographer in Ynglinga Saga , which relates that " Odin (a Scandinavian god who was one of the kings) came to the North with his people from a country called Aser ." (see also House of Ynglings and Mythological kings of Sweden ). Heyerdahl accepted Snorri's story as literal truth, and believed that

5251-504: The island was originally colonised by Hanau eepe ("Long Ears"), from South America, and that Polynesian Hanau momoko ("Short Ears") arrived only in the mid-16th century; they may have come independently or perhaps were imported as workers. According to Heyerdahl, something happened between Admiral Roggeveen's discovery of the island in 1722 and James Cook's visit in 1774; while Roggeveen encountered white, Indian, and Polynesian people living in relative harmony and prosperity, Cook encountered

5340-463: The island, but Make kills him and the Short Ears stage a rebellion, slaughtering and even eating the remains of the Long Ears. Noro alone survives, as Make allows him to live, and Noro, Ramana and their baby escape the island in a canoe Ramana's father built. A post-credits scene states that archaeological evidence proves that Pitcairn Island was settled some 1,500 miles (2,400 km) away, providing hope that Noro, Ramana and their daughter made it to

5429-552: The islanders adapted to this change gradually. The plot mixes elements of two periods: the era of the moai and the later Birdman Cult. If the conflict between the Long Ears and the Short Ears was real, it was over long before the Birdman Cult began. The name Rapa Nui , commonly used, may not have been the original native name; that may have been Te Pito te Henua ("the Navel of the World"),

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5518-441: The legend of the Hanau epe . There are two classes of people: Long Ears and Short Ears. Long Ears, marked by large wooden plugs in their earlobes and a certain tattoo, are the ruling class. The working-class Short Ears have no ear plugs and a different tattoo. Young men from each Long Ear tribe compete in the annual Birdman Competition. The winner's tribe gets to rule the island for a year. Ariki-mau ( Eru Potaka-Dewes ) has been

5607-438: The legendary sun-worshiping red-haired, bearded, and white-skinned "Tiki people" from South America drifted and colonized Polynesia first, before actual Polynesian peoples . His hyperdiffusionist ideas on ancient cultures had been widely rejected by the scientific community, even before the expedition. Heyerdahl made other voyages to demonstrate the possibility of contact between widely separated ancient peoples, notably

5696-433: The names mean "stocky" and "slim" peoples, not long- and short-eared ones. The deforestation is a fact of the island's history, which may have caused widespread famine due to ecological collapse and a catastrophic drop in population, accompanied by wars between clans for control of dwindling resources. However, it has also been proposed that the deforestation was primarily due to Polynesian rats ( Rattus exulans ) and that

5785-449: The original Easter Islanders were Polynesian in origin. Steven R. Fischer states that the story describes conflicts that arose in the 17th century due to the division of the island into competing clans. The Hanau momoko were people from "a western apu ", while the Hanau epe were from Poike. The story "recalls the division of the island into the two competing hanau of the Tu'u and the 'Otu 'Iti. It

5874-419: The original crews of the Polynesian leader Hotu Matua , who founded the settlement on Easter Island. The story states that the two groups lived in harmony until a conflict arose. The source of the conflict varies in different tellings or retellings of the legend. The Hanau epe were soon overwhelmed by the Hanau momoko, and were forced to retreat, taking refuge in a corner of the island near Poike , protected by

5963-573: The overwhelming body of linguistic, ethnographic, and ethnobotanical evidence, augmented today by genetic and archaeological data, indicating that he was patently wrong." In 1969 and 1970, Heyerdahl built two boats from papyrus and attempted to cross the Atlantic Ocean from Morocco in Africa. Based on drawings and models from ancient Egypt , the first boat, named Ra (after the Egyptian Sun god ),

6052-405: The possibility of pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contact between the pre-European Polynesians , and the peoples and cultures of South America . Despite the seemingly idyllic situation, the exposure to various tropical diseases and other difficulties caused them to return to civilisation a year later. They worked together to write an account of their adventure. The events surrounding his stay on

6141-404: The professional archaeologists who travelled with him spent several months on Easter Island investigating several important archaeological sites. Highlights of the project include experiments in the carving, transport and erection of the notable moai , as well as excavations at such prominent sites as Orongo and Poike . The expedition published two large volumes of scientific reports ( Reports of

6230-618: The realities of geography and history . Azerbaijanis should be proud of their ancient culture. It is just as rich and ancient as that of China and Mesopotamia ." In September 2000 Heyerdahl returned to Baku for the fourth time and visited the archaeological dig in the area of the Church of Kish . One of the last projects of his life, Jakten på Odin , 'The Search for Odin', was a sudden revision of his Odin hypothesis, in furtherance of which he initiated 2001–2002 excavations in Azov , Russia , near

6319-539: The rock carvings that date back to about 8th–7th millennia  BCE at Gobustan (about 30 miles/48 km west of Baku ). He was convinced that their artistic style closely resembled the carvings found in his native Norway. The ship designs, in particular, were regarded by Heyerdahl as similar and drawn with a simple sickle-shaped line, representing the base of the boat, with vertical lines on deck, illustrating crew or, perhaps, raised oars. Based on this and other published documentation, Heyerdahl proposed that Azerbaijan

6408-468: The rules and status quo by publicly killing a Short Ear fisherman who had accidentally caught a taboo fish. Long Ear Noro ( Jason Scott Lee ) and Ramana ( Sandrine Holt ), a Short Ear, are both rejects in their tribes—her father was banished for building an unlucky canoe. Noro's father stole a canoe and sailed away, and is accused of abandoning the tribe. They have a secret relationship and have fallen in love. Ariki-mau tells Noro that he has to compete in

6497-634: The ruling class of the Inca Empire and set out to voyage into the Pacific Ocean under the leadership of " Con Ticci Viracocha ". Heyerdahl said that when the Europeans first came to the Pacific islands, they were astonished that they found some of the natives to have relatively light skins and beards. There were whole families that had pale skin, hair varying in colour from reddish to blonde. In contrast, most of

6586-440: The ruling class. Thomas Barthel, who studied the oral traditions of the island, argued, in contrast, that the Hanau epe were the subordinated group, settled at Poike away from the principal centre of power. The struggle between the Long Ears and Short Ears is the central element in the plot of the 1994 epic film Rapa Nui , in which the two groups are depicted as a ruling elite (Long Ears) and oppressed labourers (Short Ears). This

6675-472: The sea "from a mountainous land in the east which was scorched by the sun". The ethnographic evidence for these claims is outlined in Heyerdahl's book Aku-Aku: The Secret of Easter Island . He argued that the monumental statues known as moai resembled sculptures more typical of pre-Columbian Peru than any Polynesian designs. He believed that the Easter Island myth of a power struggle between two peoples called

6764-796: The seas, and yet small enough to run the same risks unless those of us still alive open our eyes and minds to the desperate need of intelligent collaboration to save ourselves and our common civilisation from what we are about to convert into a sinking ship. In the years that followed, Heyerdahl was often outspoken on issues of international peace and the environment. The Tigris had an 11-man crew: Thor Heyerdahl (Norway), Norman Baker (US), Carlo Mauri (Italy), Yuri Senkevich (USSR), Germán Carrasco (Mexico), Hans Petter Bohn (Norway), Rashad Nazar Salim (Iraq), Norris Brock (US), Toru Suzuki (Japan), Detlef Soitzek (Germany), and Asbjørn Damhus (Denmark). Heyerdahl made four visits to Azerbaijan in 1981, 1994, 1999 and 2000. Heyerdahl had long been fascinated with

6853-440: The third millennium. To the innocent masses in all industrialised countries, we direct our appeal. We must wake up to the insane reality of our time ... We are all irresponsible, unless we demand from the responsible decision makers that modern armaments must no longer be made available to people whose former battle axes and swords our ancestors condemned. Our planet is bigger than the reed bundles that have carried us across

6942-590: The title Fatu Hiva (London: Allen & Unwin , 1974). The story of his time on Fatu Hiva and his side trip to Hivaoa and Mohotani is also related in Green Was the Earth on the Seventh Day ( Random House , 1996). In 1947 Heyerdahl and five fellow adventurers sailed from Peru to the Tuamotu Islands , French Polynesia in a raft that they had constructed from balsa wood and other native materials, christened

7031-419: The view that the names do not refer to ears at all. Sebastian Englert states that "Long-Ear" is a misinterpretation of Hanau ‘E‘epe , meaning "stout race". His dictionary entry for hanau includes "race, ethnic group. Hanau eepe, the thick-set race; hanau momoko, the slender race (these terms were mistranslated as "long-ears" and "short-ears")." Steven R. Fischer also argues that the traditional translation

7120-465: The voyage). It is overwhelmingly rejected by scientists today. Archaeological, linguistic, cultural, and genetic evidence all support a western origin (from Island Southeast Asia ) for Polynesians via the Austronesian expansion . "Drift voyaging" from South America was also deemed "extremely unlikely" in 1973 by computer modeling. The 1976 voyage of the Hōkūleʻa , a performance-accurate replica of

7209-552: The Æsir dwelt there. The controversy surrounding the Search for Odin project was in many ways typical of the relationship between Heyerdahl and the academic community. His theories rarely won any scientific acceptance, whereas Heyerdahl himself rejected all scientific criticism and concentrated on publishing his theories in popular books aimed at the general public. As of 2024 , Heyerdahl's Odin hypothesis has yet to be validated by any historian, archaeologist or linguist. In 1991 he studied

7298-405: Was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in biology with specialization in zoology , botany and geography . Heyerdahl is notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947, in which he drifted 8,000 km (5,000 mi) across the Pacific Ocean in a primitive hand-built raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands . The expedition was supposed to demonstrate that

7387-455: Was a daunting task, but they managed to live off the land, and work on their academic goals, by collecting and studying zoological and botanical specimens. They discovered unusual artifacts, listened to the natives' oral history traditions, and took note of the prevailing winds and ocean currents. It was in this setting, surrounded by the ruins of the formerly glorious Marquesan civilization , that Heyerdahl first developed his theories regarding

7476-541: Was born in Larvik , Norway, the son of master brewer Thor Heyerdahl (1869–1957) and his wife, Alison Lyng (1873–1965). As a young child, Heyerdahl showed a strong interest in zoology, inspired by his mother, who had a strong interest in Charles Darwin 's theory of evolution . He created a small museum in his childhood home, with a common adder ( Vipera berus ) as the main attraction. He studied zoology and geography at

7565-570: Was constructed by boat builders from Lake Chad using papyrus reed obtained from Lake Tana in Ethiopia and launched into the Atlantic Ocean from the coast of Morocco. The Ra crew included Thor Heyerdahl (Norway), Norman Baker (US), Carlo Mauri (Italy), Yuri Senkevich (USSR), Santiago Genovés (Mexico), Georges Sourial (Egypt), and Abdullah Djibrine (Chad). Only Heyerdahl and Baker had sailing and navigation experience. Genovés would go on to head

7654-688: Was released in 2012, also called Kon-Tiki , and was nominated for both the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 70th Golden Globe Awards . It was the first time that a Norwegian film was nominated for both an Oscar and a Golden Globe. In 1955–1956, Heyerdahl organised the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island . The expedition's scientific staff included Arne Skjølsvold, Carlyle Smith, Edwin Ferdon , Gonzalo Figueroa and William Mulloy . Heyerdahl and

7743-471: Was the site of an ancient advanced civilisation. He believed that natives migrated north through waterways to present-day Scandinavia using ingeniously constructed vessels made of skins that could be folded like cloth. When voyagers travelled upstream, they conveniently folded their skin boats and transported them on pack animals. On Heyerdahl's visit to Baku in 1999, he lectured at the Academy of Sciences about

7832-517: Was the subject of a United Nations search and rescue mission. The search included international assistance including people as far afield as Loo-Chi Hu of New Zealand. The boat reached Barbados , thus demonstrating that mariners could have dealt with trans-Atlantic voyages by sailing with the Canary Current . The Ra II is now in the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo , Norway. The book The Ra Expeditions and

7921-483: Was thereafter known as Ko Te Umu O Te Hanau Eepe (the Hanau Eepes' Oven). The traditional interpretation of the names has typically been explained as a reference to the cultural practice of inserting ornaments into the earlobe to extend it, the "long eared" group either using the ornaments to signify higher class-status or ethnic difference from the unadorned "short" eared people. However scholars have increasingly taken

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