Kantuta Expeditions on the balsa raft from Peru to Polynesia. Kantuta Expeditions The Kantuta Expeditions were two separate expeditions on balsa rafts led by the Czech explorer and adventurer Eduard Ingris. The voyages were inspired by the Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki expeditions. The goal of the expeditions was to repeat the success of the Kon-Tiki and confirm Heyerdahl's thoughts about the migration of Peruvian people to Polynesia. The first expedition, Kantuta I, took place in 1955/1956 and led to failure. In 1959 Ingris built a new balsa raft Kantuta II and tried to repeat the previous expedition. The second expedition was a success.
Marquesan Dog and is visible today at the site of Iʻipona. Only one of the dog carving is discernible now; the other one has weathered away. In 1956, Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer Thor Heyerdahl later claimed the reliefs on Tiki Makiʻi Tauʻa Pepe were llamas or pumas instead to bolster his theory that Polynesia was settled from South America. Later unidentified writers and rumors have insinuated that Heyerdahl deliberately altered and defaced the images in his process of restoring them. The modern consensus is that the carvings represent the extinct dog; they do not represent llamas, pumas or rats. In 1956, Robert