An Epic Adventure with Scientific Merit

When I was in 5th or 6th grade my parents gave me a book by Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, Kon Tiki. I loved it. Heyerdahl noticed that the statues on Easter Island were similar to statues found in Bolivia and his thesis was that Polynesia was settled by South Americans and not Asians as commonly believed. To demonstrate that this was possible, he built a balsa wood (commonly available in South America) raft and set out on a 101-day journey to Polynesia which he and his crew successfully completed. Despite this success, he was widely ignored by the scientific community. Not so fast there buckos!

 New DNA evidence taken from residents of Easter Island confirms that although Asian genes are plentiful, genes that could only come from indigenous residents of the Americas were also present. While it is possible that Polynesians could have sailed to South America and had children with locals, the perils of the long return voyage and the fact that prevailing ocean currents are westbound make it much more likely that it was the South Americans who were the traveling team. Well done Heyerdahl! You might give Kon Tiki a read - it is still a book worth reading today as much as it was way back when.

www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/8582150/Kon-Tiki-explorer-was-partly-right-Polynesians-had-South-American-roots.html