ANCIENT PAPYRUS CONNECTION - PROOF OF "RA"

Twenty-two years after his famed "Kon Tiki" expedition, Thor Heyerdahl came up with still another cultural migration theory. Impressed by apparent links between the ancient civilizations of Egypt and pre-Columbian America, the Norwegian ethnologist conjectured that strong currents and trade winds might have accidentally carried North African sailors to the New World more than 3,000 years ago. To prove this idea, Heyerdahl proposed to duplicate the journey in a faithful reproduction of the papyrus reed boats common to both cultures. Ancient paintings found on Egyptian tombs served as models for the boat "Ra". Constructed in Gizah, the ship was dragged across the desert on wooden tracks  (top) and then transported by truck  to Safi harbour (above). On May 25, Heyerdahl and his six-man crew began their 4,000 mile transoceanic voyage to Mexico's Yucatn Peninsula, but 56 days and 2,7000 miles later, the improperly loaded "Ra" foundered in the storm-tossed Atlantic ("X" on map). Forced to abandon his ship, still Heyerdahl refused to give up his theory.

In 1970 Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian scientist-explorer, seeking to prove the possibility of contact between ancient Egypt and South America, crossed the Atlantic in a papyrus boat. The craft was built by Aymaro Indians from Lake Titicaca flown specifically to Egypt.