Heyerdahl visited Easter Island in 1955 and 1956 as he tried to determine if the island had been originally colonised by people who sailed from South America across 2,000 miles of ocean. Returning to the island over thirty years later, Heyerdahl investigated the ruins of the island's unique statues, monolithic human figures carved from rock, and experimented with techniques that might have allowed a pre-industrial culture to create and move such enormous figures. Illustrated with full-colour photographs throughout, Easter Island is Heyerdahl's unique history of Easter Island, based on his own research and an interpretation of the mystery of the island's statues that presents an individual view of world history.

Author Biography

Thor Heyerdahl was one of the twentieth-century's most famous adventurers and he recreated many ocean voyages made by ships based on ancient designs. His 1947 Kon-Tiki expedition proved that the Incas were capable of sailing across the Pacific. He was awarded the Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Geographical Society in 1964, and was voted as Norwegian of the Century in 2000. Thor Heyerdahl died in 2002.