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Thor Heyerdahl redeemed?
Prehistoric Polynesians beat Europeans to the Americas, according to a new analysis of chicken bones.
Here is more. When I was 9 I read Kon-Tiki at least five times.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 6, 2007 at 04:30 PM in Science | Permalink
Comments
Maybe I did not read my Kon-Tiki correctly, but was not Heyerdahl's idea the opposite: Polynesia settled by Americans?
Posted by: Morten at Jun 6, 2007 5:20:04 PM
Morten is correct. This research suggests that Heyerdahl got it completely backwards.
Posted by: Jason Devitt at Jun 6, 2007 5:46:29 PM
And, well, although the settlements died shortly after 1400, the Norse Vikings did make
it to the Americas before the Polynesians, albeit North America, not South America, and
more like around 1000, to Anse-le-Meadow on Newfoundland for sure, and the historical
records in Norway make it clear that the Norse in Greenland (if one does not want to count
it as part of "the Americas") regularly went to Labrador to get lumber. Plus, the folks
who went to Newfoundland definitely went further south and to the continent, possibly as
far south as the Hudson River Valley.
Posted by: Barkley Rosser at Jun 6, 2007 5:55:59 PM
...according to a new analysis of chicken bones.
What, were sheep entrails not available?
Posted by: Grant Gould at Jun 6, 2007 6:34:01 PM
That actually makes sense. It was obvious that there was almost certainly some sort of pre-Columbian contact between Polynesians and South Americans. Sweet potatoes appear to have originated in the Americas but been brought to Polynesia.
Posted by: tommy at Jun 6, 2007 6:52:58 PM
Were they European or African chickens? What is the airspeed of an unladen chicken?
Posted by: John Cleese at Jun 7, 2007 12:21:13 AM
I've always been skeptic to people claiming to read at abnormal speeds. I guess this post verifies my bias. 5 times? And the huge underlying theme of the book was lost on you?
Posted by: Erik at Jun 7, 2007 4:43:05 AM
Tyler was 9 years old and remembered it as a journey between the Americas and Polynesia. Larry Niven once had his protagonist prolong his birthday by traveling east around the earth in his science fiction novel. This was the revised in subsequent editions.
Posted by: sort_of_knowledgable at Jun 7, 2007 12:52:48 PM
The important new proof is that vessels travelled from Polynesia to SA. Previous physical proof was only that vessels travelled from SA to Polynesia (SA sweet potatoes in Polynesia). Thor Heyerdahl's raft theory only allows E->W travel.
And our Pacific chickens are better than your puny Euro and African chickens!! Especially the New Zealand ones!!
http://www.teara.govt.nz/NewZealandInBrief/NaturalEnvironment/5/ENZ-Resources/Standard/1/2/en
Posted by: Errol at Jun 8, 2007 7:32:54 AM
