Thor Heyerdahl

1.

Thor Heyerdahl
was a Norwegian adventurer and
ethnographer with a background in
zoology, botany and geography.

2.

Kon-Tiki expedition
• Heyerdahl is notable for his
Kon-Tiki expedition in which he
sailed 8,000 km across the
Pacific Ocean in a hand-built
raft from South America to the
Tuamotu Islands. The
expedition was designed to
demonstrate that ancient
people could have made long
sea voyages, creating contacts
between societies.

3.

Expedition to Easter Island
• Easter Island Expedition Thor
Heyerdahl, in 1955 organized a
Norwegian
archaeological
expedition to Easter Island.
Heyerdahl and the professional
archaeologists who traveled with
him spent several months on
Easter Island exploring several
important archaeological sites.

4.

Boats Ra and Ra II
• Heyerdahl made other voyages
to demonstrate the possibility of
contact between widely
separated ancient peoples,
notably 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.

5.

Legacy
• Heyerdahl increased public
interest in ancient history and
anthropology. He also showed
that long-distance ocean voyages
were possible with ancient
designs. The Kon-Tiki Museum in
Oslo, Norway houses vessels and
maps from the Kon-Tiki
expedition, as well as a library
with about 8,000 books.