Inspired by reports from Spanish Conquistadors of Inca rafts, native legends and archaeological evidence suggesting contact between South America and Polynesia, the Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl. made a balsa wood raft journey across the Pacific Ocean from Peru to the Polynesian islands in 1947. The raft was named Kon-Tiki, another name for the Inca sun god Viracocha.
A dramatized film version of the voyage received many awards in 2012.
Heyerdahl’s popular book The Kon-Tiki Expedition: By Raft Across the South Seas was translated into 70 languages.
A recent NatGeo show demonstrated the latest theory as to how the Rapa Nui moved the statues from the quarries to their perches miles away. Researchers claim they used ropes attached around the necks and rocked them back and forth, foot-by-foot, along pathways. Researchers also found palm seeds with rat teeth marks on their shells. Since rats, brought by visiting ships, had no island predators, their population soared to the point where trees died out, bird migration ceased, and the natives were doomed.