Paul D. Roughan (pdr27 at csc.canterbury.ac.nz) wrote on Fri, 23 Oct 1998 14:27:26 +1300:
: Has anyone seriously proposed a hypothesis of polynesian origins in SE
: Asia, travel to SA, and subsequent return voyages?
: Or:
: SA arrival at EI first, followed by polynesian arrival,
This is actually what Heyerdahl is saying!
: warfare/assimilation and continued contact with the rest of Polynesia.
: EI (to this amateur) seems impervious to one-origin analysis - 'South
: America OR SE Asia'. Of course, its a lot harder to falsify this sort
: of hypothesis, which may be too close to 'ad hoc-ness' for scientific
: enquiry.
The whole area of Pacific migrations is exceedingly complex. And
Heyerdahl's proposals are also very complex. It is very easy to
misunderstand Heyerdahl's research even for those people who have read
him. But unfortunately, in my experience, hardly anyone has read him -- I
mean more academic works of his, not the popular stuff -- and very few
suspect that besides being an adventurer, Heyerdahl is also a competent
scientist who researched his theories diligently for many years.
One can find problems with his research, true. Is there any scientist who
is perfect? But in my view, on balance, his research stands up well to
facts.
Regards,
Yuri.
Yuri Kuchinsky -=O=- http://www.globalserve.net/~yuku
But scientists, who ought to know
Assure us that it must be so.
Oh, let us never, never doubt
What nobody is sure about.
-- Hilaire Belloc
