Talk:Thor Heyerdahl

message: WikiProject Biography Assessment
The article may be improved by following the WikiProject Biography 11 easy steps to producing at least a B article. -- Yamara 04:27, 5 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  [[Wikipedia:WikiProject_Biography/Assessment#Class_parameter|Biography assessment rating]] comment 

message: Does anyone know any information about Thor's wives?  The article seems me rather incomplete without their existence even being mentioned...  TShilo12 08:20, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Absolutely.--Wiglaf 20:42, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Yes, he proved that people can cross oceans on small rafts. Where is the science in that? Remember that Heyerdahl constantly referred to himself as a scientist (yet, he had no scientific background) and presented his achievements as science. He also presented his theories as if they were his own. In fact, similar theories had been around since the mid 19th century. The man was brave, yes, but a fraud! Grumpy444grumpy 15:37, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I have read most of Heyerdahl's work, it is true that he did not have any archeological or antropological background, but he was an marine biologist. So totally whitout scientific background, he was not. In one of his books, he describes experts as scientists, who has dug themselves so deep into the ground in search of the details that they could not get the overall picture. While he as a "jack of all trades", could look over their shoulders and work out theories, based on the work of many different experts. He also opposed the dogmas of science, refuced to accsept arguments like "that's just the way it is" and forced people to think outside the box. Still there are riddles yet to be solved surounding Easter isl. for instance. All in all not the work of a fraud!
--Njård 21:14, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: He studied for 3 years at the University of Oslo, and for an unknown number of years at various institutions around the world. Despite never receiving a doctorate in any field he still called himself a doctor and a scientist. A result of his unscientific background was that he did not follow a scientific way of thinking, the paradigm. This can constitute: Having a hypothesis. Gathering information to check whether the hypothesis is right or wrong. If you're wrong, ADMIT IT. This final point is what Heyerdahl never did. Because of his rather arrogant view of proper scientists, he saw any criticism of his work (which is a normal occurrence in science) as an attack upon himself as a person. Check out the scientific critique of his last project under the article links. The man called himself a scientist, but wasn't. OK, maybe not a fraud, but a liar he was! Grumpy444grumpy 09:38, 18 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text:  How is this attack on Heyerdahl helping the development of the article at all? --AySz88^-^ 02:52, 19 January 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: It is merely a reply to the above praise, simply stating facts. It may help the article in showing that Heyerdahl ignored important sources and was therefore largely excluded from academic/scientific circles. So, all in all, it helps the article as much as statements defending him. Grumpy444grumpy 08:10, 19 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  No mention of his wives? 

message: A few years ago I read a lengthy article, perhaps in New Yorker magazine, about how in later years, Thor Heyerdahl was caught faking artifacts.  He had paid a local native craftsman to manufacture some items and place them in a cave (or some similar place) where Thor could "discover" them.  Unfortunately, I don't remember enough specifics to be able to add to this article.  It would be interesting to track this down.  Riordanmr 03:55, 1 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Creating fake artifacts 

message: I have inserted some material which was incongruously part of the Tiki culture article, which is about an American restaurant fad of the 1950s. It is not that I support the Kon Tiki theory in any way, it is just that the material seems more in keeping with this page. Kahuroa 22:57, 24 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Kon-tiki

message: Borders! 
I've never seen one, 
but I've heard they exist in the mind of some people.
: Another good one: "A man that set foot on a continent is a man that has not traveled the world."  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.93.35.177 (talk) 11:38, 29 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Quote by Thor 

message: The sections Thor Heyerdahl#Heyerdahl's theory of Polynesian origins and Kon-Tiki#Anthropology seem to be covering exactly the same ground. I propose that they are merged. Matt 14:26, 20 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Very belatedly . The two sections covered largely the same ground, and the validity of Heyerdahl's anthropological theory has little relevance to the actual vessel Kon-Tiki but plenty of relevance to this article, the biography of Heyerdahl. Surprised this wasn't done sooner. Euryalus (talk) 11:37, 25 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed merge 

message: It appeared that some of the info presented in the text was taken from a message board.  Specifically, I could find no source commenting on Heyerdahl's views on the likelihood of travel of Egyptians to the Americas.  I googled the language, and it directed to a a message board, so I removed it.  It also looks like at least some of the article has been plagiarized (the part about the diversity of the Ra II crew).  Google the text there.  It seems to come from the source I added -- the official Norway site.  The article could use a good onceover, checking for plagiarized text and adding citations.  deeceevoice (talk) 10:54, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Could use a onceover.

message: FYI, you can add a link to Portal:Norway in this article, by placing  at the top of the see also section (or the external links section if the article has no see also section). This will display  
Cirt (talk) 09:26, 8 March 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Portal icon placement

message: "Kon-Tiki demonstrated that it was possible for a primitive raft to sail the Pacific with relative ease and safety, especially to the west (with the wind)"
Let us not forget that Heyerdahl's vessel was continuously carried north along the South American coast by coastal currents numerous times before it was able to actually get on the Humboldt current. The fact that Kon-Tiki had to be towed 100 kilometers out to sea by a tugboat to catch the Humboldt current destroys any claim that Kon-Tiki proved the possibility of westward migration.
With no objections I'll edit accordingly...  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pacaveli (talk • contribs) 05:28, 19 May 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Important Facts Left Out... 

message: "Genetic research has found that modern-day Polynesians are more closely related to Southeast Asians than to American Indians. Easter Islanders are of Polynesian descent."  Can anyone find a source for this? 219.69.19.14 (talk) 01:13, 23 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it was mentioned in the 2009 BBC series The Incredible Human Journey and presumably in Dr Alice Roberts' follow-up book, but I have neither of the above so can't be certain.  ISTR the origin of modern Polynesians was Taiwan.  Anyone? Mr Larrington (talk) 12:33, 27 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Source? 

message: I see no mention in here of his work with special Resistance units in Norway and Finland during WW-2.  The man was an authentic hero in addition to everything else.  I will do some research and find some cites on this and amend this article.  --BenBurch (talk) 23:46, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Resistance 

message: This article links to itself... if you click on the "Ra II" link in the section on the Ra ships, it links back to this article and takes you to the top of the page... 99.249.168.4 (talk) 16:23, 28 March 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Odditiy...

message: The following text is slanted towards Heyerdahl:
:Heyerdahl's expeditions were spectacular, and his heroic journeys in flimsy boats caught the public imagination. Although much of his work remains controversial within the scientific community, Heyerdahl undoubtedly increased public interest in ancient history and in the achievements of various cultures and peoples around the world — he also showed that long distance ocean voyages were technically possible even with ancient designs. As such, he was a major practitioner of experimental archaeology. Heyerdahl's books served to inspire several generations of readers. He introduced readers of all ages to the fields of archaeology and ethnology by making them attractive through his colorful adventures. This Norwegian adventurer often broke the bounds of conventional thinking and was unapologetic for doing so.
It's OK to quote a reliable source saying this stuff, but to just dump it in the article like this uncited would seem to violate WP:NPOV, especially for someone with significant critics and detractors.
SlubGlub (talk) 19:55, 18 October 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Heyerdahl's expeditions were spectacular and caught the public imagination. Although much of his work remains unaccepted within the scientific community, Heyerdahl increased public interest in ancient history and anthropology. He also showed that long distance ocean voyages were possible with ancient designs. As such, he was a major practitioner of experimental archaeology. He introduced readers of all ages to the fields of archaeology and ethnology.
SlubGlub (talk) 20:04, 18 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  NPOV dispute: Legacy 

message: :Thor Heyerdahl (October 6, 1914, Larvik, Norway – April 18, 2002, Colla Micheri, Italy) was a Norwegian deity ...
In all the talk about whether or not he was really a scientist... how has it been overlooked that he is currently described as a god??  Am I missing something here, or has he been confused with his namesake.  It doesn't seem to be a recent prank, at least, I couldn't find it in the recent editing history. --Annihilannic (talk) 02:19, 8 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Deity? 

message: I think the opening paragraph should now be bigger commensurate with the size of the Page.  I think that people need to remember that the Notability of the man does not neccesarily have much to do with whether he was right or not- the travels and the award-winning film and the sponsorship and support etc all stand whatever.  
I also think that the article should have at least a little more about the man outside of his work- maybe family, early life, whatever people might want to know about him as a person.
IceDragon64 (talk) 21:11, 24 May 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  More body 

message: In the paragraph about the pyramids in Tenerife I think it should be made clear that evidence points to Heyerdahl's theories as being wrong and without base. --212.64.176.20 (talk) 17:37, 2 June 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Güimar Pyramids 

message: http://www.aftenposten.no/nyheter/iriks/article4210727.ece 
The name of this article, translates into "DNA findings support Heyerdahl" ("DNA-funn støtter Heyerdahl" ). 
If someone has any "English links" about these DNA findings, then please place the link here. Cheers,--Narant (talk) 10:28, 28 August 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: and . Dougweller (talk) 11:32, 28 August 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Link from Norwegian newspaper today 

message: Can yalls discuss this here? Your edit summaries are confusing. Why should the quote be removed, and why should it stay? — Jeraphine Gryphon (talk) 21:23, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  The quote that's being added and removed 

message: AFAIK Heyerdahl never claimed that all Polynesians, but only some of them, came from America. I don't think, for instance, that he disputed that Polynesian languages were obviously linked to Southeast Asia languages. So I don't think that it's really relevant to write that "Polynesia was settled from west to east, migration having begun from the Asian"  or that "the mitochondrial DNA of the Polynesians is more similar to people from southeast Asia than to people from South America, showing that their ancestors most likely came from Asia": did Heyerdahl dispute the fact that most Polynesians have Asian origins? Apokrif (talk) 17:11, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Origins of '''which''' Polynesians? 

message: "his book På Jakt efter Paradiset (Hunt for Paradise) (1938), which was published in Norway but, following the outbreak of World War II, never translated and largely forgotten."
It was translated and published in USSR in 1950s. 
Here is a link to a text in Russian, with later edition cover.
http://www.bukvaved.net/roman/54726-vmpoiskakhmraja.html
I can look for it in my old library of 1950s-60s "geographical" paperbacks.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tengrie (talk • contribs) 17:27, 6 June 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Fatu Hiva 

message: I have added this tag to the article. There seems to have been a removal from the article of content critical of Heyerdahl. I'm not referring to the constant insertions and then deletions of the National Socialist claim. It appears to be a heavily whitewashed article that has removed all mention of his status as a pseudo-historian and the discredited nature of many of his goals and theories. The overly-long "Decorations and honorary degrees" section, complete with a large number of trivial awards, just serves to emphasise how skewed this article is. Meowy 20:45, 7 June 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed. I discussed a lot of this above, with sources, but never got around to working on it, and should have tagged it. If you take a look at these May 2007 edits they removed a controversy section and some other critical material, added a long list of awards. Dougweller (talk) 14:25, 8 June 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: You think "his status as pseudo-historian" is NPOV? Cheers. Kraxler (talk) 14:18, 9 June 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I think the exclusion of sources which examine his status as a pseudo-historian is pov. Do you not? Meowy 14:32, 9 June 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Um, I'm agreeing with you I think. We need also to include the fact that a number of scholars find racist elements in his work - my posts above include some sources. Dougweller (talk) 15:50, 9 June 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: POV tag

message: Information in earlier versions of this article alleging that Heyerdahl was duped by Polynesians in later years, creating "artifacts" to his yearnings, have been removed.
The article has become far more respectful, even reverential.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.94.241.240 (talk) 00:24, 11 March 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: See my posts above. I wish I had time to work on this. Dougweller (talk) 08:56, 11 March 2013 (UTC)

text: And still that way now. You almost have to read between the lines to find out how wrong so many of his ideas were. Demigord (talk) 14:20, 29 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Overly respectful? 

message: Thor Heyerdahl is todays google doodle so it is naturally attracting a large number of view and edits. I'm not sure what the general policy is. For FA on the main page I think we tend to leave them unprotected with an edit notice. Not all todays IP edits have been vandalism so the protection might prevent some good edits.--Salix alba (talk): 11:51, 6 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Protection, google doodle 

message: Substituted at 08:40, 30 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Assessment comment

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 3 external links on Thor Heyerdahl. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110719205425/http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/People/Faculty/Hunt/pdfs/Barnesetal2006.pdf to http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu/People/Faculty/Hunt/pdfs/Barnesetal2006.pdf
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.norway.org/history/expolorers/heyerdahl/heyerdahl.htm
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.novus.no/tidsskrifter/heyerdahl.PDF
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 22:40, 2 December 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 2 external links on Thor Heyerdahl. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added  tag to http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID%3D31401%26URL_DO%3DDO_TOPIC%26URL_SECTION%3D201.html
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20061002210937/http://www.forskning.no/temaer/thor_heyerdahl to http://www.forskning.no/temaer/thor_heyerdahl
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070211045916/http://www.blueworldexplorer.co.uk/explorers/heyerdahl.htm to http://www.blueworldexplorer.co.uk/explorers/heyerdahl.htm
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 05:26, 22 December 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified one external link on Thor Heyerdahl. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110930054834/http://www.apollon.uio.no/vis/art/2007_1/Artikler/paaskeoya to http://www.apollon.uio.no/vis/art/2007_1/Artikler/paaskeoya
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 00:40, 13 January 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  External links modified 

message: The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion:
* 
Participate in the deletion discussion at the . Community Tech bot (talk) 14:52, 15 June 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for deletion 

message: There is a lot of repetition in this article, eg about his death and about modern critiques of the Peruvian theory. The latter appears in at least three different places within it. Needs a big overhaul, which I cannot do using mobile. - Sitush (talk) 13:17, 4 May 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Repetition 

message: Editor Doug Weller has apparently decided that Thor's first wife, Liv Coucheron Torp -- his partner on the Fatu-Hiva adventure (and first book) and the mother of his first-born -- should not be mentioned at all because he does not trust Find-A-Grave's date of death.  I question this decision.2601:601:A080:9D0:80A0:6669:FFA2:9BA3 (talk) 15:33, 17 July 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: ,Yes, our IP friend found a good source! I hope to use it to add some additional info to the article. The Fatu Hiva section is rather bare, and this Boston Globe article has some good details. They were married in 1936 and divorced "shortly before ..Kon Tiki", which was in 1947. Liv could not join him on the KT expedition anyway, because she had to stay home & raise their offspring. Thus her name has been lost to history....grrr. Thanks, Tribe of Tiger Let's Purrfect! 05:15, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Baby : Bathwater 

message: Several scholars have commented on what historian Axel Andersson calls Heyerdah's "racist message".  A review by anthropologist Edward Norbeck in the journal 'American Antiquity of American Indians in the Pacific said "It will be difficult for many persons to avoid reading racism from this work."  In The Statues That Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island the author says "This is the tack taken by Thor Heyerdahl, who was convinced that Incan colonists from South America were the makers of the ahu and statues. His assumption goes even further, also claiming that the Incans responsible for the cultural florescence on Rapa Nui were ultimately the descendants of colonists with European origins who taught Native Americans the secrets of “advanced culture.”p110 " 
Doug Weller talk 16:14, 16 April 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Possible racism