Polynesian navigation snow. In the mid-20th century, Thor Heyerdahl proposed a new theory of Polynesian origins (one which did not win general acceptance), arguing that the Polynesians had migrated from South America on balsa-log boats. The presence in the Cook Islands of sweet potato that is a plant native to the Americas (called "kūmara" in Māori), which have been radiocarbon-dated to 1000 CE, has been cited as evidence that Americans could have traveled to Oceania. The current thinking is that sweet potato was brought to central Polynesia circa 700 CE and spread across Polynesia from there, possibly by Polynesians who had traveled
Erik Hesselberg to Larvik. He was married several times and had three children: daughter Anne Karin Hesselberg (b. 1946), son Caelou Hesselberg (b. 1958), and daughter Susanna Hesselberg (b. 1967). Hesselberg died in Larvik at age 58 of a heart condition and was buried there. He left many photographic pictures, graphic works, sculptures, and more than 200 songs for guitar. Erik Hesselberg Erik Bryn Hesselberg (4 June 1914 – 15 September 1972) was a Norwegian sailor, author, photographer, painter and sculptor. He is most known as a crewmember of the Kon-Tiki raft expedition from South America to French Polynesia in 1947. Erik