Heyerdahl, Thor (1914-2002)

Norwegian ethnologist. He sailed on the ancient-Peruvian-style raft Kon-Tiki from Peru to the Tuamotu Archipelago along the Humboldt Current in 1947, and in 1969-70 used ancient-Egyptian-style papyrus-reed boats to cross the Atlantic. His experimental approach to historical reconstruction is not regarded as having made any important scientific contribution.

His expeditions were intended to establish that ancient civilizations could have travelled the oceans in similar fashion, but his theories are largely discounted by anthropologists, who rely on linguistic, sociological, and archaeological information. His voyages are described in Kon-Tiki and The Ra Expeditions. In 1978 he travelled from the River Tigris in Iraq to Djibouti, via the Gulf and the Arabian Sea, in a boat made of reeds. The voyage was documented in The Tigris Expedition.