Heyerdahl's Hypothesis of Polynesian Origins: A Criticism

Abstract

ment in crossing the Pacific with the raft Kon-Tiki deserve of the highest admiration. On the other hand his hypothesis concerning the alleged American origin of the Polynesians, as set forth in the March issue of the Journal,2 should not be allowed to pass unchallenged. Heyerdahl deals with the linguistic question rather casually, asserting that the Polynesian languages are remotely related to the Malay tongues. 3 Even if this were true it still would mean that some kind of relation, be it ever so remote, exists between the Polynesian and Indonesian languages, whereas no such link exists between the languages of Polynesia and America. The fact that a few Polynesian words have been traced in South American languages and that one single word of Quechua origin?the name for the sweet potato (kumara)?is known to occur in Polynesia proves that some contacts have taken place between the two tegions, but no more. Thus his thesis is hardly compatible with the linguistic situation. He lays great stress on what he calls Polynesian racial extra-Malay features, such as fair skin, tail stature and frequently aquiline which must have been acquired by the Polynesians after their separation from the Malay stock, yet before their own departure into the Pacific Ocean. 4 He thinks that these racial characteristics could be more easily explained by assuming some connection with Peruvian Indians. It may be admitted that the origin of the European-like Polynesian type poses a problem, but there is nothing in it that would be incompatible with derivation from Asia. Heyerdahl does not seem to be aware of the highly complicated racial situation prevailing in east and south-east Asia and of the wide range of nose shapes and of pigmentation, from very fair to dark brown, found in these regions. The occurrence of European-like types has been frequently reported, par? ticularly from south-west China and from central Celebes.5 Nieuwenhuis, who as an anthropologist and as a physician with long experience in the eastern tropics was doubly qualified, suggested a very plausible explanation for the superior stature of the Polynesians and for the preservation among them of a racial type which in Indonesia has survived only in traces: the absence of malaria and of venereal and other contagious diseases from the Polynesian islands and their pernicious effect on the population of the Malay Archipelago.6 Nor should we forget that the 1 Professor Heine-Geldern is Professor of Ethnography in the University of Vienna, and has studied particularly the archaeology and anthropology of south-east Asia.

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