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A modern-day Viking, Thor Heyerdahl explored the
oceans in many daring expeditions.
To test his theory
that the Polynesians could have come from South America in boats, he
set out from Peru on the Kon-Tike balsa raft in 1947 and drifted
4300 miles in 101 days and ended up in Tuamotus archipelago. His
book about the expedition became a bestseller and was translated
into at least 70 languages, and his film about the voyage received
an Oscar for best documentary in 1951.
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The
original Ra II is exhibited in the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo. |
In 1956 he
explored the mysteries of the Easter Islands, which resulted in the
book Aku-Aku. In 1969 he built the ship RA after models of Egyptian
boats made of papyrus reeds, and he and his crew crossed the
Atlantic in it. Due to faulty construction it dissolved in a
storm just before reaching the Caribbean, but Heyerdahl wasn't one
to give up easily. On the second try, in
1970, he sailed RA II from Morocco in 1970 and landed on
Barbados after 57 days.
His last project, in 2001, was Jakten på
Odin, the search for Odin. The Icelandic Sagas tell that Odin came from
the Caucasus area near the Black Sea and Heyerdahl he initiated
excavations to search for evidence. The book doesn't appear to have
been translated into English, but you can
click here to find out more.
The
Kon-tiki Museum in Oslo houses the original Kon-Tiki raft, the
papyrus boat Ra II (above) and collections of archealogical finds.
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