Kon-Tiki revisited

Abstract

On Easter Sunday 1722 three Dutch sailing vessels under command of Admiral Jacob Roggeveen slipped into the shelter of an Island not yet plotted on any map, roughly 4000km west of South America.1 This was the very day that mankind was challenged with several mysteries. The inlanders referred to the Island as Te-Pito-o-te-Henua (navel of the world), it also goes by the name of Rapa Nui, but Roggeveen baptized it Easter Island. It is a small island in the shape of a triangle, with the longest side being 25km. The Dutch had only been there for less than a day, but their record of this visit turned out to be of considerable value, since it was very detailed and it would take another 50 years for the Island to be visited again by foreigners.2,3 They described three different ethnic groups living on this Island, one with dark skin, darker than Spaniards, one white, with long ears and one with a reddish skin, as if they had been tanning for too long. The Dutch described the people to be peaceful and non-violent, however, thieves. In the ten hours spent on the Island, which were described as mutually friendly, less than 15 inhabitants were recorded to be killed, apparently a low number by Dutch West Indies standards. On the coastline there were around 50 sites with intriguing statues, all but one facing land inwards. There are many mysteries surrounding these statues, but probably the most intriguing …