Explorer Thor Heyerdahl recruited five brave men. They built a balsawood raft named Kon-Tiki. Then they set off from Peru on a dangerous expedition in 1947. The six men spent 101 days on the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. Finally, they landed on an atoll in Polynesia.
Heyerdahl made several more expeditions over the following decades. The Norwegian anthropologist took 5,600 objects from Easter Island for study. Now those artifacts and human remains are returning to the remote Chilean territory.
The Kon-Tiki expedition was meant to prove a theory. Heyerdahl believed that seafarers from South America settled Easter Island and other South Sea Islands (another name for Polynesia). Other scientists thought such a journey was impossible. Heyerdahl decided to take the journey himself. Skeptics supposed Kon-Tiki’s balsawood would fall apart. It had almost no steering capability. But the primitive raft held. The trip was a success.
Many of the objects from Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, were stored at the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway. The museum gave some pieces back in 1986 and 2006. The recent return is a collaboration between the museum, Chile, and Rapa Nui’s local authorities.
“My grandfather would have been proud” that the artifacts went back to the island, says Liv Heyerdahl. She’s head of the museum and Heyerdahl’s granddaughter. She says he brought the objects to Norway “with a promise that they would one day be returned.”
Among the pieces returned this time are human bones, sculpted stones, and carved wooden pieces. A nine-person delegation traveled from Easter Island to Norway to collect the artifacts.
Heyerdahl proved that humans could sail from South America to Polynesia on a simple wooden raft. But most anthropologists don’t accept his theory that South American people colonized the islands. Many scientists say that archaeological, linguistic, and genetic evidence shows that the islanders likely came from Southeast Asia.
Rapa Nui is best known for its hundreds of moai. These are huge, monolithic human figures. They were carved centuries ago by the Rapa Nui people—likely for spiritual or political purposes. It once appeared that the statues were heads only. But on a 1955 trip to the island, Heyerdahl and other archaeologists found colossal bodies buried beneath the heads.
Easter Island is one of the world’s most isolated inhabited islands. It is located 2,300 miles from South America. It’s home to about 7,700 people. In 2019, it was officially renamed Rapa Nui-Easter Island.
A book about Heyerdahl’s voyage became an international bestseller. His documentary of the journey won an Academy Award in 1951.
Why? The Kon-Tiki expedition fascinates people of all ages and from all around the world. Returning the artifacts can show respect for the Polynesian people’s heritage and history.
Recommended Reading: For a detailed description of Thor Heyerdahl's harrowing journey, read his own account in Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft.
