Are you familiar with the Maldives, the tropical coral atolls in the Indian Ocean? Now you can immerse yourself in the history of how Buddhism spread to these islands. A new study had been published: The Archaeology of Buddhism in the Maldives, by the Norwegian archaeologist Egil Mikkelsen.

Last year, the Kon-Tiki Museum had the honor of taking part in a deeply moving and significant repatriation project that brought ancestral human remains (Ivi Tupuna) back to their original home on Rapa Nui (Easter Island).

On Friday, November 14, 1947, an unusual sight made its way toward Bygdøynes. Just a few days earlier, "Goliath"—Oslo's largest crane—had hoisted the 20-ton, waterlogged Kon-Tiki raft from the deck of a Fred. Olsen Lines’ cargo ship recently arrived from Antwerp.

The Kon-Tiki Museum are celebrating it’s 75th anniversary in 2025. The first Kon-Tiki-house, opened its doors May 15th 1950, and was replaced by a permanent museum building in 1956.

An original manuscript by Thor Heyerdahl is donated to The Kon-Tiki Museum by The Norwegian News Agency NTB. This was written just days before the departure of the Kon-Tiki expedition in 1947.

Thor Heyerdahl brought around 5 600 objects to Norway, including human remains and archaeological artefacts.As part of this, many of the objects have been stored and displayed at The Kon-Tiki Museum

Thor Heyerdahl spent a lifetime looking for traces people crossing the world’s oceans and connecting cultures. Like Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and South America. Mostly he was not taken seriously by experts. New research now shows that he was right, at least to a certain extent.

Thor Heyerdahl's eldest son Thor Heyerdahl jr. died on 30 August 2024 in Lillehammer after a short illness. He would have turned 86 years old on September 26.

The crew at The Kon-Tiki Museum is humble and proud of Tripadvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Award again in 2024!

After Thor Heyerdahl's death in 2002, his urn was placed in a private burial place in the hill above his Italian paradise, Colla Micheri.The family wanted a permanent public memorial for the famous Norwegian scientist, writer and explorer.The natural choice was Larvik, the town by the Oslo Fjord, where he grew up.

"The greatest land adventure of its time". Jiří Hanzelka and Miroslav Zikmund started their 10-year journey from Prague on April 22, 1947, just six days before the Kon-Tiki journey. They crossed 5 continents in their own car. They published 10 travelogues and 3 documentaries.

The Kon-Tiki expedition made six men world famous. However, it was a woman, Gerd Vold Hurum, who was central to the organization of the expedition and held the reins on land. She was the secret seventh member of the expedition.

Fishermen appear to have frequented visited the Galapagos group for centuries before the arrival of the first European visitors. From various locations on the mainland, from coastal Ecuador to the Casma Valley area in the southern part of the range.

Did two Swedish archaeologists finally figured out how and when marae structures developed in Eastern Polynesia? In a recently published article, Paul Wallin and Helene Martinsson-Wallin from Uppsala University visit their own excavation of a key Rapa Nui site.

The "Kon-Tiki" brand was widely used in popular culture. Thor and the crew devised ways to make money to pay back some of the debt they had incurred during the expedition. Souvenirs for sale, including Kon-Tiki models, became a solution.

Rongorongo is one of the few written scripts invented by mankind, and was first discovered on the small island of Rapa Nui in the 1860s. The scripts consist of figures carved into a piece of wood. "The original name is said to have been kohau motu mo rongorongo.

The Rapanui culture has presented researchers with many questions, often referred to as mysteries. The Moai statues are perhaps the most famous of all the mysteries. How these stone giants were carved, transported and erected has preoccupied anthropologists for many decades.

Was Thor Heyerdahl's search for a lost people of megalithic builders a racist theory? From time to time, writers and researchers make claims. Several are well argued, but some contain errors and personal interpretations.

Uncovering Pacific Pasts is a unique collaboration between 25 museums and research institutions in the Pacific, America and Europe to tell stories about the development of archaeological research in the region. Each institution has a small exhibition.

The Kon-Tiki Museum has enriched its archive with 5,000 new photographs of Thor Heyerdahl's life, work and travels. The images are the collection of the outstanding Italian photographer Walter Leonardi, and originate mainly from the 1980s and 1990s.