Thor Heyerdahl - From "Kon-Tiki" to "Ra. Journey Senkevich and Thor Heyerdahl on the papyrus boat "Ra" (11 photos)

Biography and episodes of life Thor Heyerdahl. When born and died Heyerdahl, memorable places and dates of important events in his life. travel quotes, Photo and video.

Thor Heyerdahl's years of life:

born October 6, 1941, died April 18, 2002

Epitaph

Mind, honor and beauty,
Greatness of soul and heart,
Kindness and courage -
Everything is in your image.

Biography

As a child, he was terribly afraid of water. Tell him who then that one day he will sail in the Pacific Ocean on a wooden raft, Tur would be very surprised. Nevertheless, that is how it happened. The biography of Thor Heyerdahl is the story of a traveler, scientist, writer and, finally, a man who never deviated from his high principles. “I don't seek adventure for adventure's sake,” Heyerdahl once said. - The fullness of life is not necessarily associated with overcoming the elements - the work of thought, the achievement of a humane goal decorate it more strongly. I am organically incapable of considering people who lived millennia before us below me, and it disgusts me when I encounter such often even subconscious disregard for those who lived before us and did not own our technology. He took an oath of allegiance to his goals and did not refuse it throughout his life.

Thor Heyerdahl was born in Norway. From childhood, the boy read books on anthropology - his mother worked in the anthropological museum. After school, the young man graduated from the Faculty of Natural Geography of the University of Oslo and, together with his young wife, went on his first trip - to the Marquesas Islands, where the couple decided to try to live in virgin nature. But after a while they needed medical help, and the islands had to leave. Nevertheless, it was then that Tour realized what he would do in his future life, and this predetermined the future biography of Heyerdahl as a brave traveler, scientist, writer, anthropologist and humanist.

After the war, he again continued his research activities and went on an expedition that made him famous all over the world - "Kon-Tiki". The purpose of Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki expedition was to prove that the South American Indians could reach Polynesia by sea. Upon his return, Heyerdahl published the book "Journey to the Kon-Tiki", which was translated into 67 languages, and a documentary film about the journey of Thor Heyerdahl, filmed by him on the expedition, won an Oscar. After such success, Heyerdahl could not be stopped - he equipped one expedition after another: to the Galapagos Islands, to Easter Island, the Maldives and many others. etc. All this time Tour created scientific works, published books about his hypotheses and expeditions. And in 2001, the traveler Heyerdahl arrived in Russia to confirm his next assumption that the Norwegians were from the Sea of Azov. The book “In Search of Odin” was written about the first stage of the expedition, but the second stage, alas, was not destined to happen due to the death of Heyerdahl.

Thor Heyerdahl died on April 18, 2002. Heyerdahl's funeral took place eight days later. The traveler died on his estate, where the grave of Thor Heyerdahl is also located. Heyerdahl's cause of death was a brain tumor. Even during the life of the traveler, a monument to Heyerdahl was erected in his homeland. In memory of Heyerdahl, the frigate Thor Heyerdahl, which entered the Norwegian Navy on January 18, 2011, was named. Today, Heyerdahl's house houses his museum, which contains ships and objects used by the traveler during expeditions - including the Kon-Tiki raft, Heyerdahl's boats Ra and Ra II, and others.

life line

October 6, 1914 Thor Heyerdahl's date of birth.
1933 Admission to the University of Oslo at the Faculty of Natural Geography.
December 1936 Marriage to Liv Coucheron-Thorpe.
1937 A trip to the island of Fatu Khiva, where Thor Heyerdahl and his wife spent a year away from civilization.
1947 Expedition "Kon-Tiki" across the Pacific Ocean.
1949 Divorce from Liv, marriage to Yvonne Dedekam-Simonsen.
1951 Receiving an Oscar for a documentary film about the Kon-Tiki expedition.
1955-1956 Expedition to Easter Island.
1958 The publication of the book "Aku-aku" about the expedition to Easter Island.
1969-1970 Traveling on boats "Ra" and "Ra-II".
1977 Expedition on the boat "Tigris".
1983-1984 Research in the Maldives.
1989 The release of the book "Easter Island: a mystery solved."
1991 Exploration of the pyramids of Guimar on the island of Tenerife, entering into a third marriage - with Jacqueline Beer.
1994 Opening of the Winter Olympics by Thor Heyerdahl in Lillehammer.
April 18, 2002 Date of Thor Heyerdahl's death.
April 26, 2002 The funeral of Thor Heyerdahl.

Memorable places

1. The city of Larvik in Norway, where Thor Heyerdahl was born.
2. University of Oslo, where Thor Heyerdahl studied.
3. Heyerdahl's house (Kolla Mikeri estate) in Italy, where he died and where Thor Heyerdahl is buried.
4. Monument to Heyerdahl in Norway.
5. The Kon-Tiki Museum in Norway, dedicated to the activities of Thor Heyerdahl.

Episodes of life

Heyerdahl specially selected such a crew for expeditions so that representatives of different nationalities, races, religious and political beliefs were gathered in it. In this way, Tour wanted to show that a variety of people can fruitfully live and cooperate in the world on a small floating vessel.

Thor Heyerdahl hated any form of violence, he was a real humanist. Such an attitude towards people evoked sympathy from anyone who knew him, from the Cuban Comandante to the King of Norway. In 1954, the Tour visited Easter Island, where the locals are very wary of strangers. They loved Tur so much that they even showed him their ancestral caves and allowed him to take from there whatever he wanted as a keepsake. Exhibits from Easter Island, donated by the inhabitants of the island of Turu, are now kept in the Heyerdahl Museum.

Testaments

"I'm not afraid of death. But I hate to lose my life."

"Man is a slave to a small mechanism that measures time and repeats: it's time to do this and that, hurry up, don't linger."

Documentary about Thor Heyerdahl's expedition in 1947

condolences

“I express my most sincere condolences in connection with the death of the great son of Norway, a humanist, a great friend of our country Thor Heyerdahl. His outstanding studies of the marine environment, innovative works in the field of ethnography and archeology have rightfully entered the golden fund of world science.
Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation

"With the death of the world-famous ethnographer and archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl, Norway has lost an original and outstanding explorer."
Kjell Magne Bundevik, former prime minister of Norway

"Thor Heyerdahl and his work are an inspiring example for young people who want to find their own path to knowledge and understanding."
Jens Stoltenberg, Member of the Norwegian Parliament, former Prime Minister of Norway

Biography

early years

Thor Heyerdahl was born in the small town of Larvik in southern Norway to Thor and Alison Ljung Heyerdahl. My father owned a brewery. His mother worked at the anthropological museum, and the young Tur got acquainted with the Darwinian theory of evolution quite early. From childhood, Heyerdahl was interested in zoology. In the house where Tur lived in those years, he created a small museum in which the viper was the main exhibit.

As a child, Tur was terribly afraid of water, because he nearly drowned twice. As he himself later recalled, if at the age of 17 someone had told him that he would sail the ocean on a fragile boat for several months, he would have considered that person insane. He was able to part with this fear only at the age of 22, when, having accidentally fallen into the river, he found the strength to swim out on his own.

As a true patriot, he wanted to fight the enemy and, eventually moving to the United States, he enlisted in the army. After graduating from a sabotage radio school in England, Heyerdahl and his comrades from the so-called "I Group" were prepared for being thrown into Norway occupied by the German army. With the rank of lieutenant, he went on an American liner as part of an escort to Murmansk. At the end of the campaign, the convoy was attacked by German submarines, which was repulsed with the help of Soviet ships. Upon arrival in Kirkenes, Heyerdahl's group was to maintain radio contact between the headquarters of the Norwegian detachment and London. Here he found the end of the war.

Expedition "Kon-Tiki"

The Kon-Tiki demonstrated that a primitive raft, using the Humboldt current and a tailwind, could indeed cross the Pacific Ocean in a relatively simple and safe direction in a westerly direction. Thanks to the keel system and the sail, the raft proved its high maneuverability. In addition, between the balsa logs in quite in large numbers fish accumulated, and this suggests that ancient sailors could use it to quench their thirst in the absence of other sources of fresh water. Inspired by the sailing of the Kon-Tiki, others repeated this journey on their rafts. Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki has been translated into 66 languages. A documentary film about the expedition, filmed by Heyerdahl during the voyage, won an Oscar in 1951.

Meanwhile, direct evidence of contacts between South America and Polynesia is also known: the fact that the South American sweet potato is the main food product in almost all of Polynesia seems to be the most significant. By experience, Heyerdahl proved that neither sweet potato nor coconut could reach the islands of Polynesia "by swimming". Regarding the linguistic argument, Heyerdahl gave an analogy, according to which, he prefers to believe that African Americans did come from Africa, judging by the color of their skin, and not from England, as one might assume from their speech.

The book “Expeditions to Ra” was written about these expeditions and a documentary film was created.

“The similarity between the early civilizations of Egypt and Mexico is not limited to the pyramids... Both in Mexico and Egypt there was a highly developed system of hieroglyphic writing... Scientists note the similarity of fresco painting in temples and tombs, similar designs of temples with skillful megalithic colonnades. It is pointed out that when constructing vaults from slabs, architects on both sides of the Atlantic did not know the art of building a real arch. Attention is drawn to the existence of cyclopean-sized stone human figures, to amazing astronomical knowledge and a highly developed calendar system in Mexico and Egypt. Scientists compare the amazingly perfect practice of trepanation of the human skull, characteristic of the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean, Mexico and Peru, and also point to a similar Egyptian-Peruvian custom of mummification. Taken together, these and numerous other evidences of similarity of cultures could support the theory that once or more ships from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea crossed the Atlantic Ocean and brought the foundations of civilization to the natives of Mexico.

In addition to the main aspects of the expedition, Heyerdahl deliberately chose a crew in which he brought together representatives of different races, nationalities, religions and political persuasions in order to demonstrate how people can fruitfully cooperate and live in peace on such a small floating island. In addition, the expedition collected samples of ocean pollution and submitted its report to the United Nations.

Crew "Ra"

The crew of "Ra-II"

Boat "Tigris"

Heyerdahl's latest project is described in his book In Search of Odin. In the footsteps of our past." Heyerdahl began excavations in Azov, a city not far from the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. He tried to find traces of the ancient civilization of Asgard, corresponding to the texts of the Ynglinga Saga, authored by Snorri Sturluson. This saga says that a leader named Odin led a tribe called Ases, and led him north through Saxony to the island of Funen in Denmark, and finally settled in Sweden. There, according to the text of Snorri Sturluson, he made such an impression on the locals with his varied knowledge that they began to worship him after his death as a god (see also "House of the Ynglings", "Mythical Kings of Sweden"). Heyerdahl suggested that the story told in the Ynglinga Saga is based on real facts.

Later years

Tomb of Thor Heyerdahl in Kolla Mikeri

In later years, Heyerdahl was busy with many expeditions and archaeological projects. However, he remained best known for his sea travels in boats and for his particular focus on issues of cultural diffusionism.

In 1991, the 77-year-old father of five, Heyerdahl, married for the third time. His chosen one was the former Miss France 1954, Jacqueline Beer, who was 18 years younger than her husband. Having lived on the Italian Riviera for many years, Heyerdahl moved with his wife to Tenerife.

Heyerdahl died at the age of 87 from a brain tumor on the Colla-Mikeri estate in the Italian town of Alassio, surrounded by his family - his wife Jacqueline, sons Bjorn, Tour and daughters Marian and Bettina. In his homeland, a monument was erected to him during his lifetime, and a museum was opened in his house. On January 18, 2011, the modern frigate "Thor Heyerdahl" (F312), named after the great traveler, entered the Norwegian Navy.

Followers

Heyerdahl's expeditions were spectacular events, and his heroic journeys on fragile boats staggered the human imagination. Despite the fact that most of his work caused controversy in scientific circles, Heyerdahl undeniably raised public interest in ancient history and the achievements of various cultures and peoples around the world. He also showed that long-distance travel across the ocean was technically possible for Neolithic man. In fact, he was a great practitioner of experimental archaeology. Heyerdahl's books have served as a source of inspiration for several generations of readers. He introduced readers of all ages to the world of archeology and ethnography, making them attractive through his colorful travels. This Norwegian adventurer often broke the boundaries of ordinary consciousness. "Boundaries? he asked. “I have never seen them, but I have heard that they exist in the minds of most people.”

In 1954, William Willis sailed solo from Peru to American Samoa on a small raft called the Seven Sisters.

In and years Eduard Ingrish (Czechoslovakia) repeated the Kon-Tiki expedition on the Kantut rafts.

In 2006, the Kon-Tiki path was repeated by a crew of 6 people, which included Heyerdahl's grandson Olav Heyerdahl. The expedition was called "Tangaroa" and was organized in memory of Thor Heyerdahl with the aim of observing the state of the environment in the Pacific Ocean. A film was made about this trip.

Criticism

Many theories of Thor Heyerdahl, especially the theory of the settlement of Polynesia, have been criticized. So, Eric de Bishop believed that there was only a cultural exchange between the Polynesians and the population of South America, since the marine technology of the Polynesians surpassed the technology of other peoples, which he himself proved by sailing on the Kaimiloa.

Miloslav Stingl called the "legend of brilliant blondes" very similar to "theories that recently put humanity on the brink of disaster."

Awards and honorary titles

Bibliography

1938 - På Jakt efter Paradiset - Hunt for Paradise
1948 - The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas
1952 - American Indians in the Pacific: The Theory Behind the Kon-Tiki Expedition
1957 - Aku-Aku: The Secret of Easter Island
1968 - Sjøveier til Polynesia (Sea Routes to Polynesia, Chicago: Rand McNally, 1968).
1970 - The Ra Expeditions (Russian translation "Ra")
1974 - FATU-HIVA (Back to Nature), (Russian translation of "Fatu-Hiva: Return to Nature", 1978)
1978 - Early Man and the Ocean: The Beginning of Navigation and Seaborn Civilizations (Russian translation "Ancient Man and the Ocean", 1982)
1979 - The Tigris Expedition: In Search of Our Beginnings ((Russian translation "Tigris Expedition")
1982 - "The Art of Easter Island"
1986 - The Maldive Mystery (Russian translation of "The Maldivian Mystery"

Thor Heyerdahl, biography

Thor Heyerdahl(Norwegian Thor Heyerdahl, October 6, 1914, Larvik, Norway - April 18, 2002, Alassio, Italy) - a famous Norwegian traveler and anthropologist. Author of several books.

early years

Thor Heyerdahl was born in the small town of Larvik in southern Norway to Thor and Alison Ljung Heyerdahl. From childhood, Heyerdahl was interested in zoology. In the house where Tur lived in those years, he created a small museum in which the viper was the main exhibit. Zoology and geography Tour studied at the University of Oslo (1933-1936). At the same time, he independently studied the history and culture of Polynesia, referring to the books and articles of the then largest private library in the world, which was owned by a wealthy Oslo wine merchant Bjarne Kraepelin. Later, this collection was acquired from the heirs of Kraepelin by the library of the University of Oslo and transferred to the research department of the Kon-Tiki Museum. After seven semesters of study and consultation with experts in Berlin, zoology professors Christina Bonnevie and Hjalmar Broch developed and organized a project that involved visiting some of the remote islands of Polynesia and studying how the animals that inhabit the islands today could get there. Right before the joint sailing to the Marquesas Islands, Thor Heyerdahl combined his first marriage with Liv Coucheron-Thorpe, whom he met shortly before entering the university (she studied economics there).

Fatu Khiva

In 1936 the young couple left Oslo and spent about a year in the South Seas. About the events that took place with Thor Heyerdahl during the stay in the Marquesas Islands, mostly on the island of Fatu Hiva, his first book, In Search of Paradise (1938), tells. It was published in Norway, but due to the outbreak of the Second World War, it was almost forgotten. Probably, the first translation of this book into a foreign language was a Russian edition: in 1971, the publishing house “Thought” published the book “In Search of Paradise. Aku-Aku. Somewhat later, already famous for his other travels and work in other areas, Heyerdahl published a new version of the book called Fatu Khiva (George Allen & Unwin, 1974).

The Second World War

In order to find traces of sea travelers who sailed from Southeast Asia at the beginning of the Stone Age, but never reached Polynesia before the beginning of our millennium, Thor Heyerdahl went to Canada, where he began to get acquainted with the life of local Indians. There he found the Second World War. As a true patriot, he wanted to fight the enemy and, eventually moving to the United States, he enlisted in the army. After graduating from a sabotage radio school in England, Heyerdahl and his comrades from the so-called "I Group" were prepared for being thrown into Norway occupied by the German army. In the rank of lieutenant, he went on an American liner as part of an escort to Murmansk. At the end of the campaign, the convoy was attacked by German submarines, which was repulsed with the help of Soviet ships. Upon arrival in Kirkenes, Heyerdahl's group was to maintain radio contact between the headquarters of the Norwegian detachment and London. Here he found the end of the war.

Expedition "Kon-Tiki"

Before the expedition, Heyerdahl and five other travelers - Knut Haugland, Bengt Danielsson, Eric Hesselberg, Thorstein Robyu and Herman Watzinger - arrived in Peru, where they built a pae-pae raft from balsa wood and other natural materials, which they called "Kon-Tiki". They were prompted to sail on the Kon-Tiki by ancient chronicles and drawings of the Spanish conquistadors depicting Inca rafts, as well as local legends and archaeological evidence suggesting that there could be contacts between South America and Polynesia. On August 7, 1947, after 101 days of navigation, the Kon-Tiki, having covered 4,300 nautical miles (8,000 km) in the Pacific Ocean, washed up on the reefs of the Raroia atoll of the Tuamotu Islands.

The Kon-Tiki demonstrated that a primitive raft, using the Humboldt current and a tailwind, could indeed cross the Pacific Ocean in a relatively simple and safe direction in a westerly direction. Thanks to the keel system and the sail, the raft proved its high maneuverability. In addition, fish accumulated in fairly large numbers between two balsa logs, which suggests that ancient sailors could use it to quench their thirst in the absence of other sources of fresh water. Inspired by the voyage of the Kon-Tiki, others repeated this journey on their rafts. T. Heyerdahl's book "Kon-Tiki" has been translated into 66 languages of the world. A documentary film about the expedition, filmed by Heyerdahl during the voyage, won an Oscar in 1951.

Meanwhile, direct evidence of contacts between South America and Polynesia is also known: the fact that the South American sweet potato is the main food product in almost all of Polynesia seems to be the most significant. By experience, Heyerdahl proved that neither sweet potato nor coconut could reach the islands of Polynesia "by swimming". Regarding the linguistic argument, Heyerdahl gave an analogy in which he prefers to believe that African Americans did come from Africa, judging by the color of their skin, and not from England, as one might assume from their speech.

In 1949, Heyerdahl divorced his first wife, Liv, with whom he had been married for 12 years (she bore him two sons, Tour Jr. and Bjorn). In the same year, he married Yvonne Dedekam-Simonsen, and in this marriage they had two daughters, Marian and Helen Elisabeth.

Expedition to Easter Island

In 1955-1956. T. Heyerdahl organized a Norwegian archaeological expedition to Easter Island. The scientific staff of the expedition included Arne Schölswold, Carlisle Smith, Edwin Furdon and William Malloy. Heyerdahl, along with professional archaeologists, spent several months on Easter Island, exploring a number of important archaeological sites. Pivotal to the project were experiments in carving, dragging, and erecting the famous moai statues, as well as excavations at high elevations such as Orongo and Poike. The expedition published two large volumes of scientific reports ("Reports of the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island and the East Pacific"); later Heyerdahl supplemented them with a third - "The Art of Easter Island". This expedition laid the foundation for many archaeological surveys that continue on the island to this day. T. Heyerdahl's popular book on this topic, Aku-Aku, has become another international bestseller.

In Easter Island: A Mystery Solved (Random House, 1989), Heyerdahl offered a more detailed theory of the island's history. Based on local evidence and archaeological research, he stated that the island was inhabited at the very beginning by "long-eared" from South America, and "short-eared" arrived there from Polynesia only in the middle of the 16th century; they may have come to the island on their own, or may have been brought in as labor. According to Heyerdahl's theory, something happened on the island between its discovery by the Dutch admiral Jakob Roggeveen in 1722 and the visit of James Cook in 1774. If Roggeven met on the island both whites, and Indians, and Polynesians, who lived in relative harmony and prosperity, then by the time Cook arrived, the population had already been significantly reduced, and it consisted mainly of Polynesians who lived in need.

Heyerdahl suggested that there was an uprising of the "short-ears" against the ruling "long-ears" on the island. The Long-Ears dug a defensive moat in the eastern part of the island and filled it with combustible materials. During the uprising, Heyerdahl suggests, the “long-ears” set fire to the ditch and retreated behind it, but the “short-ears” found a workaround, went in from the rear and threw all the “long-ears”, except for two people, into the fire.

Boats "Ra" and "Ra-II"

In 1969 and 1970 Thor Heyerdahl built two papyrus boats and tried to cross the Atlantic Ocean, choosing the coast of Morocco in Africa as the starting point of his voyage. The first boat, designed according to the drawings and models of boats of Ancient Egypt and named "Ra", was built by specialists from Lake Chad (Republic of Chad) from reeds mined on Lake Tana in Ethiopia, and entered the Atlantic Ocean from the coast of Morocco. After a few weeks, Ra began to bend due to design flaws, dive into the water with its nose and, in the end, broke into pieces. The team was forced to leave the ship. The following year, another boat, "Ra-II", modified taking into account the experience of the previous voyage, was built by craftsmen from Lake Titicaca in Bolivia and also set sail from Morocco, this time crowned with complete success. The boat reached Barbados, demonstrating that ancient navigators could sail across the Atlantic using the Canary Current. Despite the fact that the purpose of the voyage of Ra was only to confirm the seaworthiness of ancient ships built of light reeds, the success of the Ra-II expedition was regarded as evidence that even in prehistoric times, Egyptian navigators, intentionally or accidentally, could make travel to the New World.

The book “Expeditions to Ra” was written about these expeditions and a documentary film was created.

Crew "Ra"

* Thor Heyerdahl (Norway)
* Norman Baker (USA)
* Abdullah Jibrin (Chad)
* Carlo Mauri (Italy)
* Yuri Senkevich (USSR)
* Georges Sorial (Egypt)
* Santiago Genoves (Mexico)

The crew of "Ra-II"

* Thor Heyerdahl (Norway)
* Norman Baker (USA)
* Carlo Mauri (Italy)
* Kei Ohara (Japan)
* Yuri Senkevich (USSR)
* Georges Sorial (Egypt)
* Santiago Genoves (Mexico)
* Madani Ait Ouhanni (Morocco)

Boat "Tigris"

In 1977, T. Heyerdahl built another reed boat, the Tigris, whose task was to demonstrate that trade and migration contacts could exist between Mesopotamia and the Indus civilization in the face of modern Pakistan. The Tigris was built in Iraq and sailed with an international crew through the Persian Gulf to Pakistan and from there to the Red Sea. After about five months of navigation, the Tigris, which retained its seaworthiness, was burned in Djibouti on April 3, 1978 in protest against the wars that broke out in the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa. In his open letter to UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, Heyerdahl wrote, in part:

“Today we burn our proud little ship… in protest against the inhumanity in the world of 1978 to which we have returned from the high seas. We had to stop at the entrance to the Red Sea. Surrounded by military planes and ships of the most civilized and developed countries of the world, without having received permission to enter from friendly governments, guided by security considerations, we were forced to land in the small, still neutral Republic of Djibouti, because all around neighbors and brothers are destroying each other, using the means provided by those who lead the movement of mankind on the way to the third millennium.

We appeal to the common people of all industrialized countries. It is necessary to realize the insane realities of our time... It would be irresponsible on our part not to demand from those who make responsible decisions that modern weapons are not provided to the peoples whom our grandfathers reproached for axes and swords.

Our planet is larger than the reed riots that carried us across the seas, and yet small enough to be at the same risk, if the people living on it do not realize the urgent need for intelligent cooperation, so that we and our common civilization do not suffer the fate of a sinking ship.

Crew of the Tigris

* Thor Heyerdahl (Norway)
* Norman Baker (USA)
* Hans Petter Behn (Norway)
* Norris Brock (USA)
* Asbjorn Damhus (Denmark)
* German Carrasco (Mexico)
* Carlo Mauri (Italy)
* Rashad Nazir Salim (Iraq)
* Yuri Senkevich (USSR)
* Tohru Suzuki (Japan)
* Detlef Zoltzek (Germany)

Other studies

In 1983-1984, Thor Heyerdahl also examined mounds found in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. There he discovered foundations and courtyards oriented to the east, as well as sculptures of bearded sailors with oblong earlobes ("long-eared"). Both archaeological finds are consistent with the theory of a seafaring civilization originating from present-day Sri Lanka, which settled the Maldives and influenced or even founded the ancient culture of South America and Easter Island. Heyerdahl's discoveries are detailed in his book The Maldivian Enigma.

In 1991, Heyerdahl explored the Guimar pyramids on the island of Tenerife and declared that they could not be just mountains of cobblestones, but were indeed pyramids. He also gave an opinion on the astronomical orientation of the pyramids. Heyerdahl put forward a theory according to which the Canary Islands in ancient times were a staging post on the route between America and the Mediterranean.

Heyerdahl's latest project is described in his book In Search of Odin. In the footsteps of our past." Heyerdahl began excavations in Azov, a city not far from the Sea of Azov. He tried to find traces of the ancient civilization of Asgard, corresponding to the texts of the Saga of the Ynglings, the author of which was Snorri Sturluson. In this saga, it is said that a leader named Odin led a tribe called Ases and led them north through Saxony to the island of Funen in Denmark, and finally settled in Sweden. There, according to the text of Snorri Sturluson, he made such an impression on the locals with his varied knowledge that they began to worship him after his death as a god (see also "House of the Ynglings", "Mythical Kings of Sweden"). Heyerdahl suggested that the story told in the Ynglinga Saga is based on real facts.

This project has caused sharp criticism in Norway from historians, archaeologists and linguists and has been recognized as pseudoscientific. Heyerdahl was accused of selective use of sources and a complete lack of scientific methodology in his work. In this book, Heyerdahl bases his arguments on the similarity of names in Norse mythology and geographical names of the Black Sea region - for example, Azov and Ases, Udins and Odin, Tyr and Turkey. Philologists and historians reject these parallels as accidental, as well as chronological errors: for example, the city of Azov got its name 1000 years after the Ases, the inhabitants of Asgard, settled there, according to Heyerdahl. The bitter controversy that surrounded the Quest for Odin project was in many ways typical of Heyerdahl's relationship with academia. His theories rarely received scientific recognition, while Heyerdahl himself rejected scientific criticism and focused on publishing his theories in popular literature intended for the general public.
Heyerdahl argued that the Udins, an ethnic minority in Azerbaijan, were descendants of Scandinavians. In the last two decades of his life, he traveled several times to Azerbaijan and visited the church of Kish. His theory regarding Odin was rejected by the scientific community, but was accepted as fact by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway.

Heyerdahl was an activist in green politics. World fame Heyerdahl was the reason for his meetings with famous politicians. He even delivered a report on the importance of environmental protection to the last head of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev. Heyerdahl participated in the awarding of the Alternative Nobel Prize every year as a member of the jury. In 1994, Heyerdahl and actress Liv Ullman were chosen by the Norwegians to perform the honorary duty of opening the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer and appeared before a television audience of more than a billion people. In 1999, his compatriots recognized him as the most famous Norwegian of the 20th century. He was the recipient of numerous medals and prizes, as well as eleven honorary degrees from American and European universities.

Later years

In later years, Thor Heyerdahl was busy with many expeditions and archaeological projects. However, he remained best known for his sea voyages in boats and his particular attention to questions of cultural diffusionism.

At the age of 75, the father of five children, Heyerdahl, married for the third time. His chosen one was the former Miss France Jacqueline Beer. Having lived on the Italian Riviera for many years, Heyerdahl moved with his wife to Tenerife.

Heyerdahl died at the age of 87 from a brain tumor at the Colla-Mikeri estate in the Italian town of Alassio, surrounded by his family - his wife Jacqueline, sons Bjorn, Tur and daughters Marian and Bettina. In his homeland, a monument was erected to him during his lifetime, and a museum was opened in his house.

Followers

In 1954, William Willis sailed solo from Peru to American Samoa on a small raft called the Seven Sisters.

In 1954 and 1959 Eduard Ingrish (Czechoslovakia) repeated the Kon-Tiki expedition on the Kantut rafts.

In 2006, the path of the Kon-Tiki was repeated by a crew of 6 people, which included Heyerdahl's grandson Olav Heyerdahl. The expedition was called "Tangaroa" and was organized in honor of Thor Heyerdahl with the aim of observing the state of the environment in the Pacific Ocean. A film was made about this trip.

Awards and honorary titles

* Retzius Medal, Royal Swedish Anthropological and Geographical Society (1950)
* Mungo Park Medal, Royal Scottish Geographical Society (1951)
* Bonaparte-Wise Gold Medal, Geographical Society of Paris (1951)
* Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olaf (1951) and Commander with a Star (1970)
* Bush Kent Kane Gold Medal, Philadelphia Geographical Society (1952)
* Honorary Member of the Geographical Societies of Norway (1953), Peru (1953), Brazil (1954)
* Distinguished Service Order of Peru (1953)
* Elected member of the Norwegian Academy of Sciences (1958)
* Member of the New York Academy of Sciences (1960)
* Doctor of Science (Honoris causa) from the University of Oslo (1961)
* Gold medal "Vega", Royal Swedish Anthropological and Geographical Society (1962)
* Lomonosov Medal, Moscow State University (1962)
* Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society, London (1964)
* Distinguished Service Award, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington, USA (1966)
* Order of Merit for the Italian Republic (1968)
* Commander of the American Order of Malta (1970)
* Order of Merit, Egypt (1971)
* Grand Officer of the Royal Alaouite Order, Morocco (1971)
* Prize of Cyril and Methodius of the Bulgarian Geographical Society (1972)
* Honorary Professor of the National Polytechnic Institute, Mexico (1972)
* Officer of the Order of the Sun, Peru (1975)
* Pahlavi International Ecological Prize, UN (1978)
* Order of the Golden Ark, Netherlands (1980)
* Doctor of Science (Honoris causa), USSR Academy of Sciences (1980)
* Bradford-Washburn Award, Science Museum, Boston (1982)
* Doctor of Science (Honoris causa), San Martin University, Lima, Peru (1991)
* Doctor of Science (Honoris causa), University of Havana, Cuba (1992)
* Doctor of Sciences (Honoris causa), Kyiv University (1993)
* Presidential Medal, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington, USA (1996)

Bibliography in Russian

* Fatu Khiva: back to nature
* Journey on "Kon-Tiki"
* Aku-Aku
* Ra
* Vulnerable ocean
* In search of Odin. In the footsteps of our past

Bibliography in Norwegian

* På jakt efter paradiset: Et år på en sydhavsøy (1938)
*Kon-Tiki ekspedisjonen (1948)
* Aku-Aku: Påskeøyas hemmelighet (1957)
*Sjøveier til Polynesia (1968)
* Ra (1970)
* Fatuhiva: Tilbake til naturen (1974)
* Early Man and the Ocean: The Beginning of Navigation and Seaborn Civilizations (1978)
* Tigris: På leting etter begynnelsen (1979)
* Fatu-Hiva (1980)
* Mysteriet Maldivene (1986)
* Påskeøya: En gåte blir løst (1989)
* Grønn var jorden på den syvende dag (1991)
* Skjebnemøte vest for havet: De beseiredes historie (1992)
*Pyramidene i Tucume (1993)
* I frøyas fotspor (1998)
* Heyerdahl, Thor: Jakten på Odin, 2000.

"Travelers Film Club" know the name
famous Norwegian traveler and anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl. From childhood, Heyerdahl was interested in zoology. And as he grew up, he made traveling his life's work. Here are 10 of Heyerdahl's most famous travels.

This was the first trip of Heyerdahl and his wife. The events that happened to the newlyweds were described in the book "In Search of Paradise." The book was published, but due to the outbreak of World War II, it was almost forgotten.
Subsequently, in 1971, the book was translated into Russian and published under the title “In Search of Paradise. Aku-Aku.

In order to find traces of sea travelers who sailed from Southeast Asia at the beginning of the Stone Age, but never reached Polynesia before the beginning of the second millennium AD, Thor Heyerdahl went to Canada, where he began to get acquainted with the life of local Indians. There he found the Second World War. With the rank of lieutenant, after graduating from the English sabotage radio school, he headed for the coast of Norway. The purpose of the action is to transfer the group to the territory occupied by the Germans. During the campaign, the American liner on which Heyerdahl was sailing was attacked by a German submarine. (Salvation came in the form of a Soviet ship.) Upon arrival at Kirkenes, Heyerdahl was engaged in supporting the detachment's radio communications with the Allied forces.

After the end of the war, Heyerdahl returned to his anthropological research, and in a team with four tireless researchers went to Peru. From the wood of the lightest tree (balsa), they built a raft, called "Kon-Tiki". Having loaded their supplies on it, the brave six headed for the shores of the Tuamotu, located at a distance of 8000 km.
And on August 7, 1947, after 101 days of sailing, they reached their goal. With their journey, they proved the possibility of the existence of ancient sea routes between South America and Polynesia. T. Heyerdahl's book "Kon-Tiki" was translated into 66 languages of the world!

In 1956, Heyerdahl organized the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to Easter Island. Heyerdahl, along with professional archaeologists, spent several months on the island. During this time, studies were carried out regarding the stone "idols" of Easter. The expedition published three large volumes of scientific reports. This expedition was the beginning of the study of the "phenomenon" of Easter, which continues to this day. In Easter Island: A Mystery Solved, Heyerdahl offered a more detailed theory of the island's history.

In 1969, a papyrus boat was built, on which Heyerdahl tried to cross the Atlantic Ocean, choosing the coast of Morocco (Africa) as the starting point. The boat was designed according to the images of the boats of Ancient Egypt, and named "Ra". Its creators were builders from Lake Chad, and reeds were delivered from Ethiopia. After a few weeks of sailing, due to technical problems that led to the death of "Ra", the team was forced to evacuate.

In 1970, a modified version of "Ra" was built, which was called "Ra-II". Craftsmen from Lake Titicaca took part in its construction. Departing from the same port as Ra, the boat successfully reached Barbados, demonstrating that ancient navigators could sail across the Atlantic using the Canary Current. The crew of the Ra-II was international. Our country was represented by Yuri Senkevich.

In 1977, another reed boat was built, named "Tigris". The purpose of the trip was to prove that trade and migration contacts could exist between the Indus civilization and Mesopotamia.

8 Travel to the Maldives

In 1983, Thor Heyerdahl organized an expedition, the purpose of which was to survey the burial mounds found in the Maldives. There were found the foundations of buildings oriented to the east, as well as sculptures of bearded sailors with oblong earlobes. This confirmed the theory of the settlement of the Maldives by immigrants from Sri Lanka. The discoveries made by Heyerdahl are described in the book The Maldivian Mystery.

9 Expedition to the island of Tenerife

1991 is associated with Heyerdahl's expedition to the island of Tenerife, where he explored the pyramids of Guimar. According to Heyerdahl's theory, they are not mountains of cobblestones, but astronomical pyramids.

10 Expedition to Azov

Heyerdahl's latest project is described in detail in the book In Search of Odin. In the footsteps of our past." Thor Heyerdahl talks about the search for the ancient civilization of Asgard. According to his theory, the homeland of the Ases (the ancient inhabitants of Scandinavia) was the territory of the northern Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov and Azerbaijan. Trying to prove his theory based on the Icelandic sagas of the 12th and 13th centuries, Heyerdahl began archaeological excavations near the ancient city of Tanais on the shores of the Sea of Azov.

Thor Heyerdahl spent the last years of his life in the Italian town of Alassio, surrounded by his family. At home (in Norway), a monument was erected to him during his lifetime, and a museum was opened in his house.

Name: Thor Heyerdahl

Age: 87 years old

Place of Birth: Larvik, Vestfold, Norway

Place of death: Alassio, Liguria, Italy

Activity: Norwegian archaeologist, traveler and writer

Family status: was married to Jacqueline Beer

Thor Heyerdahl - Biography

The scientific world will never stop arguing about the emergence of great civilizations, since often one theory refutes another. Thor Heyerdahl preferred not to argue, but to act. According to the ancient "instructions" he built a ship and sailed on it thousands of miles across the ocean. If it reached the desired shore, the theory was considered proven.

Thor Heyerdahl - studies

Finishing school, the young Tur had already determined his future - he would be a zoologist. The boy's mother worked in the anthropological museum, and he himself assembled a mini-zoo at home, with a viper as the main "exhibit". Admission in 1933 to the Faculty of Natural Geography of the University of Oslo was a logical continuation of his dream...

Thor Heyerdahl - on tropical islands

Already finishing his studies, the student Heyerdahl went to the remote islands of Polynesia. There he hoped to find out the origin of certain species of fauna. With him was his young wife Liv. Passing Tahiti, the couple landed on the uninhabited island of Fatu Hiva. He reminded them of the Garden of Eden, where they felt like Adam and Eve. But the neighboring islands were inhabited by cannibal natives, and Tour did not part with a gun.

However, the trouble did not come from savages, but from a tropical infection. The couple's legs became covered with ulcers, and the couple was forced to seek medical help on the island of Hiva Oa. Here Heyerdahl met his compatriot Henry Lee, who told him about the stone statues in the local jungle. Where they came from, no one knew. Lee also said that there are similar statues in Colombia, 7 thousand (!) Kilometers to the west.

The tour was intrigued: how could this happen? The most logical explanation is that people from South America simply sailed to the Marquesas Islands. The conjecture was strengthened by the fact that the islanders called one of the idols Tiki, like the god of the Incas. But the scientific world considered the hypothesis complete nonsense. Well, savages could not build a ship capable of crossing the ocean! In search of evidence for his theory, 25-year-old Heyerdahl came to British Columbia (Canada).

He hoped to find legends about seafarers among the local Indians. However, having traveled all over the west of Canada, he did not hear a single legend about Indian sailors. But he learned something else, and soon presented to the public an article about the contacts of the peoples of the Pacific Islands and American Indians. In it, the Norwegian substantiated his conclusion that the ancestors of the Polynesians arrived precisely from the north, through Hawaii.

There, in Canada, Heyerdahl found the Second World War. Being a patriot, Tur enlisted in the Allied army and ended up in a sabotage radio school in Britain. As part of a sea convoy, his unit was transferred to Murmansk, from where the fighters were to go to the Norwegian Kirkenes.

Having studied Heyerdahl's documents, the NKVD officer was surprised: on the shoulders of a soldier who was listed as a sergeant, lieutenant stars flaunted. Disorder! Not listening to the explanations, the "special officer" sent the suspicious blonde back to London. And the unit in which Tur served was destroyed by the Nazis during the very first mission ... Subsequently, the researcher mentally thanked the meticulous Russian, who unwittingly saved his life.

After the war, Heyerdahl came to New York, where he presented his work on the resettlement of American Indians in the islands of Polynesia. As he foresaw, none of the academicians honored his article with attention. True, someone advised me to prove by their own example the possibility of such a journey. Considering that Heyerdahl, having miraculously not drowned in childhood, was terribly afraid of water, he had to refuse. Instead, the Tour began to prepare for sailing.

On April 28, 1947, Heyerdahl, with five associates, departed on a raft from the Peruvian port of Callao and headed for Polynesia. The raft consisted of balsa wood logs and was called "Kon-Tiki" - after the name of the hero of Polynesian legends. The construction was identical to those built in antiquity. After 101 days of exhausting sailing, overcoming 4300 nautical miles, the travelers reached the Tuamotu Islands. The theory, which no one took seriously, was proven.

Some of the academicians tried to devalue the achievement of Tours, saying that even before him it was known about the resettlement of the ancestors of the Polynesians from Asia. But it was Tur who proved that they had previously been to America, thousands of miles to the east. Already in the 21st century, an analysis of the DNA of Polynesians and South American Indians was carried out, which showed a high degree of kinship between these ethnic groups.

The explorer organized a new expedition to Easter Island. Here he was interested in famous idols. Who put these bulky sculptures here and why? And although Tur did not give a complete answer to this question, he found out that the stone heads are a continuation of the bodies buried in the ground. In addition, he found previously unknown idols and the ruins of buildings that strongly resembled pre-Inca structures in South America...

Having exchanged a half-century anniversary, Heyerdahl still did not think of himself outside of science. As a result of long reflections, he came to another sensational conclusion: the ancient Indians and Egyptians sailed to visit each other! And again I decided to make a journey on a ship from an ancient era.

Tour ordered the ship from Egyptian craftsmen. They recreated it according to old drawings and drawings from 12 tons of papyrus. Although the Egyptian Papyrus Institute warned that the stems would begin to disintegrate in salt water, the Norwegian had more faith in the masters of the past. The ship was named "Ra", in honor of the Egyptian sun god.

For a new campaign, Heyerdahl recruited an international team. The future host of the Travelers Club became the expedition doctor. In the spring of 1969, "Ra" sailed under the UN flag from the port of Safi in Morocco. For 8 weeks, the ship traveled 5 thousand kilometers, but did not reach the finish line: “Ra” in salt water, as scientists had warned, began to fall apart. From certain death, the crew was saved by a yacht passing by.

Heyerdahl did not give up. Less than a year later, with the same crew and from the same point, the papyrus boat "Ra-2" left. This time the ship was built by experts from the Aymar tribe from Lake Titicaca (Bolivia). After 57 days, Ra-2, having defeated the Atlantic, finished near the island of Barbados. Heyerdahl was right.

Tour soon decided that Egypt had connections not only with America, but also with India. To test this assumption, he ordered the Tigris reed ship, an exact copy of the ancient Sumerian ship, from craftsmen from Iraq. Leaving the Iraqi port of Shatt al-Arab, the Tigris crossed the Persian Gulf, entered the Indian Ocean and approached the mouth of the Indus in Pakistan. The theory was again confirmed by practice. The 5-month voyage of the Tigris ended on April 3, 1978 in Djibouti: in protest against the war between Ethiopia and Somalia, the crew burned the ship.

Heyerdahl's last guess

In the spring of 2001, 87-year-old Thor Heyerdahl flew to Rostov-on-Don. It was not an idle trip: he wanted to find evidence for his theory that the ancestors of the Scandinavians were Udins, one of the ethnic minorities of Azerbaijan. From them, according to the researcher, comes the name of the highest deity of the Vikings - Odin. The scientist believed that they went north through the Don steppes.

This time he did not have time to prove his case: he was already seriously ill. Despite this. The tour amazed those around him with his efficiency. “Worked late. The light in his room was on until two in the morning. And at half past seven in the morning he was already on his feet, - the translator Yevgeny Vitkovsky recalled. “First, I walked in front of the hotel, then returned to the room - took a cold shower, did exercises, had breakfast and went to the excavations ...”