How Did They Moved?

The monolith statues of Easter Island have long, unsmiling faces, which can be brooding or enigmatic depending on the time of the day. Anyone who visit this remote island in the Pacific Ocean can't help but wonder how these figures end up there. This leads to more questions, the most pressing of which is where do its creators come from.

Anthropologists believe the ancestors of the inhabitants of Easter Island, and most of the islands in the Pacific, are from Asia. It's an eastward migration, but Thor Heyerdahl has other ideas.

Follow the wind

Thor Heyerdahl was born in Norway in October 6, 1914. He showed strong interest in zoology and botany at a young age. He was also passionate about Polynesian culture and history, having his own library on the subject. This was the reason why he embarked on an adventure. He wanted to prove that the forefathers of Polynesians were the ancient Incas.

The native of Larvik argued that the carvings were more of pre-Columban Peru. Many doubted this, as Europe's first contact with this side of America might have contaminated their culture. Heyerdahl pointed out the western trade winds in the Pacific. He also cited sweet potato consumed in this part of the world, which happened to be the staple food in Peru and some parts of the Andes. To prove his theory, he went on a sea voyage on a hand-built Inca raft. It was so primitive that not a few thought that such an undertaking was considered suicidal. Heyerdahl was undaunted, as he and his five-man crew left Callao, Peru on April 28, 1947. They made landfall on Tuamoto Islands on August 7, a total of 101 days on open sea.

The success of the journey fired up the public's imagination. Heyerdahl became a hero in his homeland. The historic journey was documented and dramatized. Jeremy Thomas was the producer of the latter, with Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg taking joint credit behind the camera. (“Kon-Tiki” was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film last year.)

"I suspect Thor Heyerdahl was a very private man, even though he was constantly being interviewed and photographed. I think maybe he was a lonely man too. He came from a small town south of Oslo called Larvik, which is very near where Espen and I grew up," Roenning said.

"His family was prosperous but he felt he had to escape his small-town background."

"He wanted to find a purpose in life," Sandberg added.

"Sometimes people forget that he worked on his theories for 10 years before the Kon-Tiki expedition and he went on exploring and researching for the rest of his life."

That alien feeling

Heyerdahl's voyage inspired many to cross the Pacific using the same vessel that the Norwegian used. They saw him as the adventurer like no other, but the questions remained unanswered.

One must look to Easter again. There was a sharp decline in the population during the last few centuries. Rapa Nui, which is what the Polynesians call the isle, is dotted with volcanoes. But there's hardly any vegetation. Dead men tell no tales.