Easter Island : The Mystery Solved

by Thor Heyerdahl

This handsome volume is the story of Thor Heyerdahl's love of a mystery--and of an island and its people. Over thirty years ago, the man who did such important, pioneering work in Kon-Tiki wrote another best-selling book, Aku-Aku , about Easter Island. More recently, Heyerdahl was invited to return to Easter Island and there confronted the conundrum of the famous, haunting statues that stud the lovely island, massive and mysterious.

How were they made? How were they moved? What did the natives mean when they had said, those many years earlier, that "the statues walked"? Who made them--and where did the Easter Islanders themselves come from? What did earlier visitors discover--or believe?

It is characteristic of Dr. Heyerdahl's many explorations that his research, his theories, his conclusions all are entwined with objectives greater than mere adventure. Just as his expeditions have been partly in pursuit and proof of his theories that early man traveled further (and faster) than others had previously suspected, and that the peoples of many cultures can work together peacefully, his probes into the past are coupled with an enduring, endearing conviction--never before displayed better than in this volume--that just as we must avoid prejudice in the present, we should not look down on the people of the past--for they and we have more in common than it might seem.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Archaeology, Anthropology, Science

Unknown Binding

First published November 16, 1989

About the author

Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914, Larvik, Norway – April 18, 2002, Colla Micheri, Italy) was a Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer with a scientific background in zoology and geography. Heyerdahl became notable for his Kon-Tiki expedition, in which he sailed 4,300 miles (8,000 km) by raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands. All his legendary expeditions are shown in the Kon-Tiki Museum, Oslo.

Thor Heyerdahl was born in Larvik, the son of master brewer Thor Heyerdahl and his wife Alison Lyng. As a young child, Thor Heyerdahl showed a strong interest in zoology. He created a small museum in his childhood home, with a Vipera berus as the main attraction. He studied Zoology and Geography at University of Oslo. At the same time, he privately studied Polynesian culture and history, consulting what was then the world's largest private collection of books and papers on Polynesia, owned by Bjarne Kropelien, a wealthy wine merchant in Oslo. This collection was later purchased by the University of Oslo Library from Kropelien's heirs and was attached to the Kon-Tiki Museum research department. After seven terms and consultations with experts in Berlin, a project was developed and sponsored by his zoology professors, Kristine Bonnevie and Hjalmar Broch. He was to visit some isolated Pacific island groups and study how the local animals had found their way there. Just before sailing together to the Marquesas Islands in 1936, he married his first wife, Liv Coucheron-Torp (b. 1916), whom he had met shortly before enrolling at the University, and who had studied economics there. Though she is conspicuously absent from many of his papers and talks, Liv participated in nearly all of Thor's journeys, with the exception of the Kon-Tiki Expedition. The couple had two sons; Thor Jr and Bjørn. The marriage ended in divorce and in 1949 Thor Heyerdahl married Yvonne Dedekam-Simonsen. They in turn had three daughters; Annette, Marian and Helene Elisabeth. This marriage also ended in divorce, in 1969. In 1991 Thor Heyerdahl married for the third time, to Jacqueline Beer (b. 1932).

Thor Heyerdahl's grandson, Olav Heyerdahl, retraced his grandfather's Kon-Tiki voyage in 2006, as part of a six-member crew. The voyage, called the Tangaroa Expedition, was intended as a tribute to Thor Heyerdahl, as well as a means to monitor the Pacific Ocean's environment. A film about the voyage is in preparation.
--from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Bionic Jean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easter Island: The Mystery Solved was written in 1989 by the Norwegian author Thor Heyerdahl. The author is described oddly on Goodreads as an:

“ethnographer and adventurer with a scientific background in zoology and geography”.

Thor Heyerdahl had first come to fame with “The Kon-Tiki Expedition”, in which he described sailing 4,300 miles (8,000 km) in a simple raft made from balsa wood logs, based on drawings made by Spanish conquistadors. He sailed this balsa wood raft from South America to the Tuamotu Islands, using only the basic equipment that he thought ancient mariners would have access to. This account of his important, pioneering work was followed by another which became a bestseller “Aku-Aku: the Secret of Easter Island”, which I have reviewed LINK HERE.

Over thirty years later Thor Heyerdahl was invited to return to Easter Island, and found the offer irresistible:

“I have slept in the queerest places—on the altar stone in Stonehenge, in a snowdrift on the top of Norway’s highest mountain, in adobe chambers in the deserted cave villages of New Mexico, by the ruins of the first Inca’s birthplace on the Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca: and now I wanted to sleep in the old stone quarry in Rano Raraku.”

He then wrote this volume Easter Island: The Mystery Solved: a companion volume to “Aku-Aku: the Secret of Easter Island”. By now, with increasing tourism, the project not only appealed to anthropological and archaeological communities; there was also increasing public awareness of both the island and the statues. Both these volumes are entertaining and informative accounts for general readers. There is also a scientific formal report of the expedition, edited by Heyerdahl and Ferdon in 1961. It is considered a landmark in Pacific studies and a remains a monument to the project.

Easter Island: The Mystery Solved is a beautiful oversize book, full of stunning colour photographs. It looks like a coffee table book, but the text forms an absorbing and information-packed read. There are also engravings from earlier expeditions, and maps included. Some photographs are full page and others partial: all have full captions which basically repeat what we have read in the text.

The writing style feels a little different from the earlier one. It still reads like a personal account, rather than an objective but dry factual book, but it does not have the immediacy of the 1958 “Aku-Aku: the Secret of Easter Island”. This is perhaps not surprising, given the length of time which had passed. Again, there is a lot of information, as well as descriptions of his discoveries, all of which is well worth reading, and impossible to précis. There are 38 sections, which are long enough to be called chapters, except for a couple at the beginning and end. They fall within four broad categories:

Europeans Run into a Mystery
The Testimony of the Islanders
Science Comes to Easter Island
The Circle is Closed

although these overall headings are not mentioned in the contents page. Each section follows straight on, with no white space to fill the page: a little different from the design of chapters in most factual books. Every bit of this book is used, yet because of the high picture count, it is very attractive. A useful bibliography follows.

In the first hundred or so pages, Thor Heyerdahl describes in detail the early history of the island, and the accounts of early explorers which are still extant. These include the Dutch explorer Admiral Jacob Roggeveen, the English Captain Cook, and the French Missionary Lay Brother Eugène Eyraud, who took up residence in 1864, at the height of the savagery and cannibalism. Brother Eyraud’s task was not easy. There had been two centuries of tribal warfare, culminating in slave traders from Peru carrying off most of the island’s population two years earlier. Thor Heyerdahl thus covers the same information as in the beginning of “Aku-Aku: the Secret of Easter Island”. However, there he presented it as tales he told to his crew members. Here it is vastly expanded, and illustrated with early etchings and lithographs, drawings and photographs of artefacts.

Heyerdahl goes on to relate the discoveries in his own expedition: setting up camp on the shores of Anakena Bay, and getting to know the islanders of Rapa Nui (Easter Island) through a Catholic priest called Father Sebastian Englert, who had lived there for many years. The islanders trusted Father Sebastian, stating that they were good Christians, and singing hymns in Polynesian in his church each Sunday. They were also steeped in superstition and magic: ancestor worship and belief in their own gods and guardians, who could be beneficent or wrathful. They conducted ceremonies, with magic charms and totems to appease these gods. Each had a “Aku Aku”—or “spiritual guide”—and some could see their aku-aku, close to them. They saw no difficulty in reconciling the two belief systems, saying that this traditional one was “a thing apart” and often secret.

Father Sebastian had numbered as many of the moai (monolithic stone statues) as he could find. He also showed Thor Heyerdahl sites that he suspected would be good to excavate. He had a wealth of knowledge about the people and legends of Rapa Nui. The islanders had repeatedly told these stories to all the visitors from 1722 onwards and were interested in the excavations, to learn more about their ancestors.

Thor Heyerhahl’s excavations convinced Father Sebastian that at least some of these, such as the legend of “Iko’s Ditch” (in my other review) were based on true events, as they had said all along. When the islanders said that the statues had “walked themselves”, one man, Pedro Atan boasted that he knew the secret, and Heyerdahl persuaded him to give a demonstration. Sure enough it proved possible to move a tall, flat-bottomed object, by alternately swivelling it on its corners in a walking fashion. What earlier explorers had not taken account of was the sheer number of people involved, the time taken in moving the stone in tiny increments, and the expertise and technical know-how of the person in charge, on this occasion Pedro Atan, directing all the others.

We read and see from photographs how some moai, which appeared to early Europeans to be large heads, were excavated to show their entire stylised bodies. They had no genitals, and when asked about this, Pedro Atan said they had no male member because the whole was both a phallus and an aku-aku. The carvings on them showed 3-masted reed boats.

There are plenty of photos of the “walking” of the maoi, and also of the excavations. This is essential, as when an representative from Chile visited, he issued instructions from the government. Thor Heyerdahl’s team were given just one day to uncover the base of the moai, before it was to be covered again, just leaving the head exposed. Also, they were forbidden to take away anything that was excavated; it must be left on Rapa Nui. When Heyerdahl had asked about the carvings the islanders had given him, he was told they did not matter, and could be taken away. Clearly the Chilean government did not know about the secret caves, packed with priceless heirlooms, destined to be stripped by Heyerdahl … but I go into this in my other review.

In this volume further details about the moai come to light. Heyerdahl had suspected that the eye sockets of the moai must have been inlaid, perhaps with shell, as in the statues in ancient Mexico. These had pupils of black obsidian, surrounded by eyeballs of white shell or stone. Wooden sculptures in ancient Peru also had eyes like these. In 1976 Heyerdahl had written a book on the art of Easter Island and put forward the idea that the moai had similar eyes. Two years later, the islander Sergio Rapu announced that he had dug up a complete eye, and it exactly fitted into the eye socket of one of the moai. The central disc was of dark lava rock, and the almond shape surround was of white coral.

Pedro Atan plus some of the other islanders, who were descendants of the “long-ears” first identified by Captain Cook, also knew the traditional stone carving methods, using a simple adz to make small stone figures. However there were some very different structures: blocks placed together to make walls, which Father Sebastian had puzzled about. Another large statue type was also found, very different from the moai. It had different exaggerated facial features, prominent ribs, and sat in a kneeling position. Heyerdahl excavated even more of the walls, and the islanders had no knowledge about who had made them. They were not constructed by the long-ears, nor the short-ears, nor the cannibals, (of whom Heyerdahl had found evidence in the caves). But both walls and the statues were remarkably similar to the kneeling giants which were among the most typical monuments of pre-Inca time, and found in temples in Tiahuanaco.

One of the most satisfying discoveries was when a headless trunk of a legendary queen was reunited with her crowned head. The basalt body had been found at Anakena in 1956 and sold to a passing ship, as was the islanders’ custom, Heyerdahl had bought it and displayed it in his Kon-Tiki museum in Oslo, Norway. Then in 1988, after Sergio Rapu’s excavations, Heyerdahl himself found the head, and the body was returned to Easter Island by air. It was an exact match, and is now displayed in Rapa Nui’s new museum. It is named “Ava-rei-pua”, after the Queen consort of King Hotu Matua, whom legend said had arrived at Anakuna bay, to found the first royal dynasty on Easter Island.

The islanders could recite the names of their ancestors back through 11 generations. In one of the family caves was a container of small, neat reed packets, carefully wrapped and tied. Heyerdahl was told by Pedro Atan that each packet contained a lock of hair from the islander’s father, his grandfather, and so on back through the generations. When the islanders therefore said the stone work was unknown but “very old”, they meant ancient.

Thor Heyerdahl compared this high quality precision stonework to pre-Columbian Amerindian stonework, such as at Tihuanaco, saying of Ahu Vinapu’s retaining wall, “No Polynesian fisherman would have been capable of conceiving, much less building such a wall.” He makes a convincing case that Easter Island was first settled by pre-Incans from the Lake Titicaca area believing that the Totora reeds in the islands’ three crater lakes originated in South America, as they are similar to ones in Lake Titicaca, (although further investigative work has shown that they are not identical). He discovered that holes in the rock, which others had theorised were for holding poles, were exactly the same diameter as a genus of tree trunks which used to grow there, although now they were restricted to one small area below the rim of a crater. Bereft of trees by 1956-7, clearly in earlier times the entire island of Rapa Nui had been more wooded. Heyerdahl was also struck by the fact that the main crop was the sweet potato: an indigenous South American plant. The presence of the sweet potato in southeast and central Polynesia by 1000CE, remains the best and most convincing evidence of human contact between the two regions.

Father Sebastian knew the families, and the islanders had told him who were descended from long-ears and who from short-ears. We see photographs of many islanders, as well as of Father Sebastian and the archaeologists, and it is startling how ethnically diverse they look—sometimes even within one family. Thor Heyerdahl had taken blood samples in the 1956-7 visit, and these shows that the islanders lacked a certain B strain which is present in the other Polynesian islands. The long-ears, a red-haired people, characteristically wore plugs that stretched out their earlobes. This is not unique to Rapa Nui: both red hair and ear adornments of this type are characteristic of ancient South American civilisations. The collected information on head shapes and facial features, blood types, the artistic stylisation of the early monumental statues before the moai, the precisely placed blocks in the method of building walls, and types of tree pollen all point to South American ancestors who predate Easter Island’s settlement from Polynesia.

But perhaps the simplest and most obvious indication is the prevailing winds, and use of prehistoric reed boats. The islanders had demonstrated to Thor Heyerdahl their expertise in constructing boats using the totora reeds indigenous to South America. Yet the scientific establishment has traditionally maintained that Rapa Nui was settled by sailors from Polynesia. Not only does this theory ignore the artefacts from a more ancient civilisation and the legends of the peoples, but it ignores the fact that Rapa Nui is actually far closer to the mainland of South America. It also benefits from the currents in that direction, rather than those from any other island in Polynesia. Surely mariners from the direction of Polynesia logically would thus be bound to come along later? There seems ample evidence to show that the cultures of the ancient world were sometimes linked by sailors who could cross oceans.

Thor Heyerdahl is still thought of as a controversial figure, and the scientific community often still resists his theory that as well as being settled by Polynesians, Easter Island was earlier settled by people from Peru, an area he described as “more culturally developed”. Sometimes his evidence is refuted by archaeologists, and his methods criticised. For instance, the British archaeologist Paul Bahn wrote: “He relied on the selective use of evidence, which resulted in a misleading conclusion.” This seems a sweeping statement, given the colossal amount of evidence offered in these volumes. Over time, when more refined tests can be applied, some wrong minor conclusions may be seen to have been drawn—but that is how theories are developed.

Archaeologists are still in dispute about the mysteries of Rapa Nui. The question which Thor Heyerdahl first posed so dramatically more than 50 years ago with the Kon-Tiki expedition is still open, and current archaeology is pursuing it, often according to the agenda that Heyerdahl advanced. This beautiful book chronicling Thor Heyerdahl and his fellow archaeologists’ expedition, the evidence linking Rapa Nui with South America, and the fascinating history of the long-ears and short-ears, further tales of the island’s mythology, and the added section to bring the account of life on Easter Island up to date at the time of publication, all add up to an enjoyable and worthwhile read. I rather wish Thor Heyerdahl was still alive, and able to produce a 2022 edition of his discoveries.

[Cherie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not really enjoy the first half of the book, but I did enjoy the historical references. The science and discovery section is what I looked forward to and it did not disappoint me, except for a lot of repetition of the info from the first section. My questions were answered! The pictures were wonderful and I really would like to have a few of them.

I would really love to visit Easter Island some day and if there were really a time machine available, who would not want to go there and see the great statues standing all over the island, in all of their glory?

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I doubt that Thor Heyerdahl was ever accused of being a humble man. While adept at telling his own part of the Easter Island story, his historical set-up could not have been more tedious. The first 123 pages were both repetitive and uninteresting. But then, things picked up when Heyerdahl described anthropological expeditions, including his own in 1955, and its follow-up 30 years later, the latter being the main subject of the book. Written in 1989, the format is awkward by modern standards, an oversized book with photographs throughout whose captions repeat almost exactly text that appears next to them. It would have worked better to have 2 – 3 sections of photos, whereby the captions could serve as reminders rather than duplicate information.

Heyerdahl makes a convincing case that Easter Island was first settled by pre-Incans from the Lake Titicaca area. The Long Ears, a red-haired people, characteristically wore plugs that stretched out their earlobes. Both red hair and such ear adornments are characteristic of ancient South American civilizations. Data on head shape, blood types, artistic stylization of the moai, method of building walls, types of tree pollen, prevailing winds, and use of reed boats all point to South American ancestors that predate Easter Island’s settlement from Polynesia.

The expedition itself involved several excavations with the help of the Easter Islanders, whose curiosity about artifacts from their Early Period ancestral stories made them cooperative partners. Some moai, which appeared to Europeans to be large heads, were excavated to show their entire stylized bodies. To investigate the islanders’ claim that the statues “walked” from the quarry to their destination, a series of ropes, rocks, and strong men engineered lifting a statue from its prone position and moving it with a marching gait that resembles walking—successfully.

To look for ancient artifacts, excavations were dug down to bedrock level. All of these digs were then reburied. Oddly enough, when a Middle Period wall was uncovered, it contained a fragment that looked similar to a piece that Heyerdahl had purchased from an islander in the 1950s. Against all odds, these parts fit together to form an ancient statue of a female deity from the Early Period. This was broken and repurposed in a later civilization with different religious beliefs. Heyerdahl graciously returned his half, to be exhibited with its mate at the new Easter Island museum. He in turn was allowed to cast both parts for display in his Norwegian Kon-Tiki Museum.

Although not always the most readable book, the description of Heyerdahl and his fellow scientists’ expedition, the evidence linking Easter Island with South America, and the history of the Long Ears and Short Ears and how they are reflected in the island’s mythology make it a worthwhile read. Don’t be discouraged by the first 123 pages.

[Glenn Robinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful book on understanding the history of Easter Island, where the locals came from and the statues. More questions than ever require more research.

[Cristián Moreno Pakarati · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thor Heyerdahl fue un hombre de otro siglo. Intelectualmente dotado y con gran labia, carisma y capacidad discursiva, creó una gran teoría difusionista sobre el origen de las "civilizaciones perdidas" en la Polinesia Oriental. Como hombre con una imaginación prodigiosa pero carente de formación académica en antropología y arqueología, desarrolló una teoría apasionante que explotaba al máximo una evidencia débil y circunstancial, y deformaba evidencia contradictoria para hacerla parecer implausible. Con esto hizo surgir la idea, popular en su tiempo, de que pueblos precolombinos de Sudamérica habían colonizado en tiempos antiguos tanto Pascua como otras islas del llamado "triángulo polinésico".

En este volumen, titulado "Easter Island: The Mystery Solved", el aventurero noruego saca nuevas conclusiones que difieren, parcialmente, de las publicadas por él anteriormente, tanto en "Aku Aku" (1958) como en los Reportes de la Expedición Arqueológica Noruega (1960 y 1961). En su primera visita a Rapa Nui (1955-56), Heyerdahl señaló que no venía a estudiar a la gente, sino que la verdad de la Isla, la cual se encontraba bajo tierra. Aun así, terminó cayendo bajo el influjo de astutos informantes como Pedro Atán, Juan Haoa, Santiago Pakarati y varios otros.

En este "nuevo" texto, basado en sus visitas a la Isla en los años 80, Heyerdahl da más espacio a la tradición oral isleña y la re-interpreta en función de sus hipótesis. Un gran porcentaje de sus argumentos surge a partir de una antigua leyenda rapanui que hablaba de dos grupos que cohabitaban en la Isla, facciones o "razas" diferentes llamadas Hanau momoko y Hanau E'epe. El real significado de ambos ("Gente esbelta" y "Gente robusta") fue traducido por él como "Orejas largas" y "orejas cortas", intentando así explicar la presencia tanto de gente polinésica como de un pueblo americano pre-colombino.

La narración es fantástica, al nivel esperado de Heyerdahl. Eso sí, hoy en día, con tanto aficionado a la teosofía y la pseudociencia haciendo videoblogs en internet que ponen énfasis en supuestas teorías conspirativas sobre el conocimiento científico, el texto de Heyerdahl puede leerse un poco anticuado. De todas maneras, como ficción narrativa es apasionante e, incluso, a ratos, puede hacer cuestionarse por un breve instante hasta al más conocedor experto en Rapa Nui. Lo anterior, sin embargo, es un espejismo. El lado científico de Heyerdahl es laxo y ambiguo. Su argumentación sigue incurriendo en la falacia de petición de principio y, sobre todo, en la de afirmación del consecuente. O sea, Heyerdahl parte de la base de que su "hipótesis es correcta" y eso le sirve para afirmar sus premisas, y también afirma la verdad de sus conclusiones en base a la verdad de premisas que podrían tener múltiples razones.

El volumen es de lujo, adornado copiosamente con fotografías magistrales que hoy, 26 años después, generan mucha nostalgia en los descendientes de algunos protagonistas. Un libro que realmente vale la pena tener, más allá de los reparos que se pueda hacer a la ciencia que contiene.

[Pamela · Rating 5 out of 5]

This dates back to the days when I wanted to be an archeologist/missionary. Loved the descriptions of current life, and suppositions as to earlier life when the statues where constructed. Thanks to a very before her time teacher who read this to us a little every day in 2nd or 3rd grade!

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent history of western exploration of Easter Island. Very detailed and sad account of the loss of the cultural history of the original islanders.

[john lambert · Rating 3 out of 5]

HHHHMMMMMmmmmmmm....
I see that I read this one before, in December 2020. Sort of worrisome that I now don't remember reading it at all. Well, another feather in the goodreads cap!

How did Heyerdahl come across the word 'shpock' in 1989???? Now it means an app for shopping!

Anyway, such an interesting book, plus some of photos are astounding. Why did the early long-ears make the enormous statues? One, unfinished, still laying in the mountain as if in a tomb, was (I think!) 72 feet long and weighed 30 tons! Hand carved!

Also, there was a lot of work done to prove that the original people came from South America, not Polynesia. And they may have gotten there before the Incas took over Peru.

ODDLY ENOUGH, I'LL HAVE TO READ THIS ONE MORE TIME, START TO FINISH. It's long and I've seemingly run out of gas. Start on

Last but not least, I think that if I went to Easter Island, I'd have an epiphany! Love those statues.

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December 2020
I've always been fascinated by the giant statues on Easter Island. Big black giant heads, kind of somber, staring into the blue Pacific. On a very remote island. They're still calling me, I'll have to go someday. I may not leave!

Anyway, this book (first one I've read about Easter Island so not sure about the fascination!) is by the famous Norwegian "adventurer and ethnographer" (says the Internet) Thor Heyerdahl. He's the one who sailed the reed (?) boat from somewhere to somewhere else in the Pacific. Kon Tiki! This book starts with the initial 'visits' by Western people, so it's very interesting to see how the view of the island changed over the centuries. The book follows the various encounters through the centuries. Interesting because we do have the notes from the early visits. What the islanders told all the Western visitors was the same from 1722 on and eventually the 'smart' Westerners found out that what they'd said all along was true.

One odd thing is that I remember (very incorrectly) that when the Western ships first showed up, the island was empty, everyone was gone. The very first ship was on Easter Sunday, 1722, Dutch. I got this view from reading Jared Diamond's book (Collapse: How Societies Chose to Fail or Succeed), which mentions the Easter Island society as one that, well, failed. Anyway, I wonder why I got that idea? I'll have to re-read Diamond's book. (By the way Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel is truly a great book. Read it!)

After finishing the book, I read the initial encounters again just to see what the islanders said and what the explorers wrote down.

[Karl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why can’t academic archaeologists write books this interesting? Cranks have a huge advantage And sometimes turn out to be correct