Aku aku

Thor was an archeologist and modern day explorer. He also was a very engaging story-teller. I
feel like I actually met him as he regaled this adventure.

I was captivated by his entrance into the caves of the Easter Islanders. I could feel the
hard rock pressing around me as we squeezed and entered through the long narrow passage
way.

I wondered how those giant figures were moved and raised. Were the inhabitants giants,
I surmized. Heyerdahl found out the secret from the descendants of these ancient artists.

He also befriended or rather tricked, would perhaps be the word, the natives into
revealing their most prized secret- the secret caves handed down from generation to generation.
They were filled with stone carvings.

Then there were the natives' superstitions which mostly included the aku-aku, spirits that
were friendly and unique to individual families.

Thor ends his narrative with his archeological conclusions. The only disappointment I had
with them is that he did not link the Easter Islanders' legend of Hotu Matua whom the Easter
Islanders say is the original founder of the isle with the legend of the pre-Inca's viracochas. The
Inca Indians claimed that this was a divine race of bearded white men that reigned before them.
Their ruler and his subjects left Peru and sailed off into the Pacific. Heyerdahl's theory is that
these were the ancestors of the Easter Islanders.

There were three epochs on the island. The first were when monolithic walls were
constructed, similiar to those of the ancient Peruvians. During the second epoch, the large, long-
eared statues were constructed. Then during the final epoch,after Polynesians had arrived on
the island, cannibalism began. Civil war broke out during which the stone giants were knocked
down and caves were created to hide in.