A replica of a balsa raft constructed by Thor Heyerdahl in 1947 to test the hypothesis that South American Indians could have drifted into Polynesia. This was the type of raft used in the 16th century AD along the coasts of Ecuador and northern Peru. He sailed the raft from South America to the Tuamotu Archipelago to show that Indians could have reached Polynesia. Archaeological evidence, however, has shown that any contacts were only of a minor nature.