| Right, well, for our presentation shall I start with the early life of Thor Heyerdahl? |
| Sure. |
| Why don't you begin with describing the type of boy he was, |
| especially his passion for collecting things. |
| That's right, he had his own little museum. |
| And I think it's unusual for children to develop their own values and not join in their parents' hobbies; |
| I'm thinking of how Heyerdahl wouldn't go hunting with his dad, for example. |
| Yeah, he preferred to learn about nature by listening to his mother read to him. |
| And quite early on he knew he wanted to become an explorer when he grew up. |
| That came from his camping trips he went on in Norway I think... |
| No, it was climbing that he spent his time on as a young man. |
| Oh, right... |
| After university he married a classmate |
| and together, they decided to experience living on a small island, |
| to find out how harsh weather conditions shaped people's lifestyles. |
| As part of their preparation before they left home, |
| they learnt basic survival skills like building a shelter. |
| I guess they needed that knowledge in order to live wild in a remote location |
| with few inhabitants, cut off by the sea, |
| which is what they were aiming to do. |
| An important part of your talk should be the radical theory Heyerdahl formed from examining mysterious ancient carvings |
| that he happened to find on the island. |
| I think you should finish with that. |
| OK. |
| All right, Victor, so after your part |
| I'll talk about Thor Heyerdahl's adult life, |
| continuing from the theory he had about Polynesian migration: |
| Up until that time of course, |
| academics had believed that humans first migrated to the islands in Polynesia from Asia, in the west. |
| Yes, they thought that travel from the east was impossible, |
| because of the huge, empty stretch of ocean that lies between the islands and the nearest inhabited land. |
| Yes, but Heyerdahl spent ages studying the cloud movements, ocean currents and wind patterns to find if it was actually possible. |
| And another argument was that there was no tradition of large ship-building in the communities lying to the east of Polynesia. |
| But Heyerdahl knew they made lots of coastal voyages in locally built canoes. |
| Yes, or sailing on rafts, as was shown by the long voyage that Heyerdahl did next. |
| It was an incredibly risky journey to undertake - |
| sometimes I wonder if he did that trip for private reasons, you know? |
| To show others that he could have spectacular adventures. |
| What do you think, Olivia? |
| Well, I think it was more a matter of simply trying out his idea, |
| to see if migration from the east was possible. |
| Yes, that's probably it. |
| And the poor guy suffered a bit at that time because the war forced him to stop his work for some years... |
| Yes. |
| When he got started again and planned his epic voyage, |
| do you think it was important to him that he achieve it before anyone else did? |
| I haven't read anywhere that that was his motivation. |
| The most important factor seems to have been that he use only ancient techniques and local materials to build his raft. |
| Yes. |
| I wonder how fast it went. |
| Well, it took them 97 days from South America to the Pacific Islands. |
| And after that, Heyerdahl went to Easter Island, didn't he? |
| We should mention the purpose of that trip. |
| I think he sailed there in a boat made out of reeds. |
| No, that was later on in Egypt, Olivia. |
| Oh, yes, that's right. |
| But what he wanted to do was talk to the local people about their old stone carvings |
| and then make one himself to learn more about the process. |
| I see. |
| Well, what a great life. |
| Even though many of his theories have been disproven, |
| he certainly left a lasting impression on many disciplines, didn't he? |
| To my mind, he was the first person to establish what modern academics call practical archaeology. |
| I mean, that they try to recreate something from the past today, |
| like he did with his raft trip. |
| It's unfortunate that his ideas about where Polynesians originated from have been completely discredited. |
| Yes. |
| Right, well, I'll prepare a PowerPoint slide at the end that acknowledges our sources. |
| I mainly used The Life and Work of Thor Heyerdahl by William Oliver. |
| I thought the research methods he used were very sound, |
| although I must say I found the overall tone somewhat old-fashioned. |
| I think they need to do a new, revised edition. |
| Yeah, I agree. |
| What about the subject matter - I found it really challenging! |
| Well, it's a complex issue... |
| I thought the book had lots of good points. |
| What did you think of... |