Norway Will Return Thousands of Objects to Easter Island That Were Taken by an Explorer More than 60 Years Ago

Sarah Cascone: Artnet

The Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo is repatriating thousands of artifacts of the native Rapa Nui people to Easter Island. The objects were collected in the 1940s and ’50s by Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl, who crossed the Pacific Ocean on the balsawood raft Kon-Tiki in an effort to prove that ancient South American people settled Polynesia.

The forthcoming return of the objects was announced following a ceremony in Santiago, Chile, in which representatives of the museum and Chilean culture ministry officials signed an agreement on the matter. The meeting took place as part of a state visit to the country by Norway’s King Harald V and Queen Sonja. …Read More

Image: The expedition of Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl traveling across the Pacific on the balsa raft Kon Tiki. Photo by Keystone/Getty Images