“Once in a while you find yourself in an odd situation. You get into it by degrees and in the most natural way but, when you are right in the midst of it, you are suddenly astonished and ask yourself how in the world it all came about,” Thor Heyerdahl once said and that is what happened to him. One day, he was wondering whether the Polynesians could have come from South America instead of Asia as was commonly thought by scientists then, and the next, he finds himself out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a wooden raft with five other men and a parrot trying to prove his hypothesis true. To prove that Polynesians could have originated from South America, Heyerdahl built and sailed across the Pacific Ocean on a man-made raft from South America to Polynesia.
Though there had already been a widely accepted theory on how the Polynesians had arrived in Polynesia, Thor Heyerdahl dared to test this theory, backed by his many years of research. Originally, it was thought that the Polynesians had arrived by canoe from Asia. This had been the accepted belief for years, so when Heyerdahl introduced his new theory into the world, it was thought by the scientists to be implausible. Heyerdahl hypothesized that the Polynesians arrived by a balsa wood raft from Peru. He believed the ancient civilizations had arrived from the coast of South America far before Columbus ever set foot there. Knut Haugland, a crew-member, recounted scientists’ doubts: “It was also argued that [a] low deck of an open raft would be unprotected in the high sea, and furthermore, that the balsa raft would dissolve as soon as the big logs started chafing on the rope lashing that held the craft together” (www.kon-tiki.no). It was also believed that the balsa wood would ...
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...ary film about the expedition was released. Heyerdahl and his crew had made a tremendous feat by trusting their own theory and successfully surviving the trip.
Heyerdahl countered every scientists’ belief by supplying them with his substantial evidence and by eventually setting out to sea himself. He argued that Polynesians had originated from Peru, and not Asia. With a strong trust in the numerous connections found between the Polynesians and the ancient Inca tribes, Heyerdahl set out to sea astonishing the world with his daring adventure over the Pacific Ocean in a simple raft. Not only was this journey a significant scientific feat, but it also proved that scientists had underestimated the use of a simple balsa wood raft by ancient people. The Kon-Tiki proved the previously believed theory wrong, which raises the question--what other beliefs could be challenged?
A study performed by Martin Hausler and Peter Schmid of the University of Zurich, Switzerland, appeared in the October 1995 issue of Journal of Human Evolution, igniting controversy over the 1974 Australopithecus discoveries in Hadar, Ethiopia. The most famous of the Hadar specimens is the 3-million-year-old skeleton, “Lucy,” who was recovered by paleoanthropologist, Donald Johanson. In his article, Shreeve presents the methods and findings of Hausler and Schmid’s study as well as some counter arguments from other scientists in the field.
In a search to find our ancestors, several anthropologists have found evidence to support their conclusions. In the films about Don Johanson's discovery of Lucy in Hadar, one may be very intrigued by the first film but very disturbed by the second film.
The partial remains of a skeleton belonging to a tiny female hominid that lived around 95K to 17Kya, was found in the Liang Bua cave on the island of Flores in Indonesia in 2003. This skeleton has unique traits. It has small body approximately 3’6” in length and an estimated body weight of 66 lbs. The 426 cc brain capacity led scientists to taxa the skeleton to a new species they called Homo floresiensis. Since the initial find, teeth and bones from as many as twelve H. floresiensis remains have been discovered at the Liang Bua cave which is the only known site where H. floresiensis has been found to date. This is the most recently discovered early human species so far. They had large teeth for their small size, they had no chins, their foreheads are receded, and they had relatively large feet in proportion to the short legs. Although they are small in body and brain size, H. floresiensis did make and use of stone tools. They hunted small elephants and large rodents. They had island predators such as giant Komodo dragons, and even may have used fire. However, arguments rising in the anthropology community and scientific world are questioning if the now nick named: “Hobbit”, of Flores Island, is the same species as modern day humans. Are they Homo species, or Homo sapiens with the medical condition called Cretinism? A severe hypothyroidism resulting in physical and mental stunting.
Debate started to arise when an archaeologist by the name of Thomas D. Dillehay found artifacts of people existing 14,600 years ago, before Clovis, in Monte Verde, a site in southern Chile. These people slept in hide tents, had access to seafood and potatoes, and shared similar characteristics to other artifacts found in North Ame...
“He promised to write a book later about the trip. He said the rights to the motion pictures and still photographs that would be taken, and he agreed to give a long lecture series on his return. In all these arrangements, there was one basic assumption –that Shackleton would survive”(Lansing, 15). In Endurance, Shackleton was persistent in the way he always stayed positive and was confident in their journey's success. Never once did he sought to give up. Right now I am ...
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. However, even after centuries later, little is truly known of the mysterious voyage and findings of the new world.1 By examining “Letter from Columbus to Luis Santangel”, one can further contextualize the events of Columbus' exploration of the New World. The letter uncovers Columbus' subtle hints of his true intentions and exposes his exaggerated tone that catered to his lavish demands with Spain. Likewise, The Columbian Voyage Map read in accordance with the letter helps the reader track Columbus' first, second, third, and fourth voyage to the New World carefully and conveniently. Thus, the letter and map's rarity and description render invaluable insight into Columbus' intentionality of the New World and its indigenous inhabitants.
Before the Europeans sailed between the two regions (1000 AD) Squash and sweet potatoes were present in both South America and Polynesia. There is also biological evidence supporting this theory. Scientists discovered and ran tests on chicken bones from Samoa and from Southern Chile. They found that the bones consisted of the same DNA sequence which suggests that Polynesian chickens were introduced in the fourteenth century in South America. That being said, there has been no evidence showing that Polynesian people stayed for extended periods of time in South America or vice versa. This suggests that the meetings between the two regions were brief and did not take place all that often. (Imagina Easter
Humanity became fascinated with the idea of evolution with the work of Charles Darwin and the Scientific Revolution. People began hunting for fossils that would prove that man had an ape derived ancestry (Weiner, 1955). After various years of searching, a piece of physical evidence was found in England that was said to confirm the theory of evolution (Weiner, 1955).This confirmation came from Charles Dawson’s discoveries from 1908, that were announced publicly in 1912 (Thackeray, 2011). Dawson was believed to have found the fossil remains of the “missing link” between ape and human evolution, the reconstructed skull of Piltdown man (Augustine, 2006). The material was found in stratigraphical evidence and animal remains that were, at the time, adequate enough to confirm the antiquity of the remains (Weiner, 1955). In 1915, another specimen, Piltdown man II, was found further proving this theory (Augustine, 2006). However, this was merely a hoax proven by fluorine relative dating in 1953; the artifacts and bone fragments discovered turned out to be altered to fit the proposed scenario (Augustine, 2006). The skull found was actually composed of a human braincase that was younger than the complimentary orangutan lower jaw (Falk, 2011). Both sections of the skull had been stained to appear to be from the same person of the same age (Falk, 2011).The perpetrator of this act was never caught and there are many theories proposed for the motive of this hoax (Augustine, 2006). Many people have been taken into consideration for this crime, such as Chardin, Woodward, Hinton, and Dawson (Augustine, 2006). Nevertheless, the evidence that proves that Dawson is guilty of this crime against anthropology is quite substantial compared to the evidence...
“On a June evening of 1770, Captain James Cook heard the screech of wood against stone” (ngm.nationalgeographic.com). He later realized that he had just discovered the Great Barrier Reef. Cook and his team had been exploring the waters offshore of what is now Queensland, Australia when the H.M.S. Endeavour became trapped in the labyrinth of coral. Not too far below the surface, rough, spiky towers of coral tore into the ship’s frame and held the vessel fast(ngm.nationalgeographic.com). As timbers splintered and the sea poured in, the crew arrived on deck “with countenances which sufficiently expressed the horrors of our situation,” Cook later wrote in his diary. The captain and crew barely made it to a river mouth where they rehabilitated the vessel. A few decades after Cook’s encounter with the reef, English cartographer Matthew Flinders-who also had a mishap or two while “threading the needle” among the reefs-gave the massive body its name, inspired by its size.
In conclusion, we come to realize that Polynesian celestial navigation and migrations from the west are the key points of Pacific history. Without the research and realizations of these facts, questions of origin and the sense of belonging would still linger.
First, as a religious traditional myth, the Native American belief that they are born out of the earth in their homeland, has not been broken by “fact” in the form of scientific hypothesis. This is because there continues to be much disagreement in the scientific community about the exact period, difference in DNA, and the exact route taken for migration. Although much of this disagreement is really just “fine tuning” of the Land Bridge Theory, the zealous Native American can interpret this disagreement as a refutation thus, fulfilling Tillich’s explanation as a justifiable literal
First let us look at Christopher Columbus Himself. First He was not some guy who had an idea
In 1882, Ignatius L. Donnelly published a book named “Atlantis: the Antediluvian World”. In this book, Donnelly tried to demonstrate his hypothesis that all known ancient civilizations were descended from a specific civilization, which was Atlantis. He observed that ancie...
An example of early humans creating revolutionary inventions to support their survival can be seen in the Polynesian peoples. Early Polynesians were one of the first groups to create boats and from there advance their skills even further, “Polynesians knew how to plot a course eastward in their speedy canoes by taking advantage of seasonal interruptions in the prevailing westward trade winds” (Rogers 9). This advanced understanding of seasonal winds and early maritime inventions allowed them to take advantage of their environment and led to Polynesians being able to transform into the only group of deep-water sailors about two thousand years. This seafaring aspect of their past lifestyles has heavily shaped their culture even today from mythology to traditions. The evolution of the Polynesian peoples is a great example of how a transformation can mean an opening to a new, colorful chapter of life that will change how humans live and interact with their environment. This pattern is not limited to the Polynesian people of course at all. Additionally, the Mayans have also been known to have made significant transformations to their environment, “... the Maya
Many may ask why we need to know the past. Carl Sagan tells us that “You have to know the past to understand the present.” In history, there are two kinds of sources: primary and secondary. Historians have to analyze both sources to conclude their argument or statement. One of the reliable non-documentary sources is archaeology. Archaeology played an important role in constructing the history of the Pacific. Primary, non-documentary sources like archaeology, which include pottery, clothing, and human remains, are very important because they give a unique idea about the culture and human history in the Pacific region. However, archeological sources have limitations, because scholars are not given a complete picture, which can lead to misinterpretation and confusion regarding the cultures of the region.