Case file · Folklore / legend
Heyerdahl's Rapa Nui expedition
In 1955–56 Thor Heyerdahl led an expedition to Rapa Nui to show that South Americans, not Polynesians, first settled the island; his book 'Aku-Aku' became a bestseller.
1955 CE · -27.12, -109.29 · status: disputed
The account
The expedition carried out the first systematic excavations and raised a moai. Heyerdahl believed stonework at Ahu Vinapu resembled Inca masonry.
The sceptical view
Archaeology, language and DNA show the islanders are Polynesian; a 2020 genetic study found some later Native American admixture, but not settlement by Heyerdahl's 'long-ears'.