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Gonzalo Figueroa Garcia Huidobro (February 4, 1931, Santiago, Chile - May 20, 2008, Santiago, Chile), often referred to simply as Gonzalo Figueroa, was an archaeologist and authority on the conservation of the archaeological heritage of Rapa Nui (Easter Island). Figueroa's work included participating in Thor Heyerdahl's Rapa Nui expedition, restoring ''Ahu Akivi'' ''moai'' with William Mulloy, and working generally for over four decades to conserve and, in some cases, restore the archaeological monuments of Rapa Nui for future generations. ==1955-56 Rapa Nui Expedition== Thor Heyerdahl long asserted that Polynesia had been colonized not from Southeast Asia, as was (and still is) widely accepted, but from South America. In 1947, Heyerdahl successfully sailed the balsa-wood raft ''Kon-Tiki'' from Peru to the Tuamotu Islands in an effort to prove it could be done. The subsequent Rapa Nui expedition was meant to be less of an adventurous experiment and more of a true scientific expedition. Figueroa was a twenty-four-year-old graduate student in archaeology at the University of Chile and working at Santiago's natural history museum when he joined Heyerdahl's expedition as the official representative of Chile and liaison officer,〔Heyerdahl, T. (1958). ''Aku-Aku: The secret of Easter Island''. New York: Rand McNally & Co. p. 209.〕 or, as Edwin Ferndon referred to him, "a 'watchdog' representative."〔Ferndon, E.N. (1966). ''One man's log''. New York: Rand McNally & Co. p. 77.〕 He was also to assist the team's four professional archaeologists, Arne Skjolsvold, William Mulloy, Ferndon, and Carlyle Smith. Heyerdahl described Figueroa as "an athletic aristocrat with a chameleonic gift of adapting himself naturally to the most variable conditions of life."〔Heyerdahl, T. 1958: 27.〕 Ferndon also praised Figueroa and his contribution to the expedition, saying "Gonzalo had proved to be thoughtful and understanding in his position as Chilean representative and had become so completely a part of the working team that we saw him only as another hard working, cooperative scientist."〔Ferndon, E.N. 1966: 77.〕 Being a Chilean and a native Spanish speaker, one of Figueroa's contributions was to smooth interactions with the islanders, but he was not always successful. Heyerdahl recounted how the captain of the expedition's ship wanted visiting aboriginal islanders to sign the ship's guestbook, but all of them refused. Figueroa attempted to get the crowd to comply, "()ut when he tried to give further explanations there was more and more disturbance around him...() had to use all of () authority to get Gonzalo out of the crowd, and he came back with the book, untidy and dishevelled."〔Heyerdahl, T. 1958: 51.〕 The islanders had refused to sign because they believed that was how their ancestors had been tricked into being taken to Peru as slaves. Figueroa worked closely with each of the more senior archaeologists, including climbing the nine-hundred foot volcano Rano Kau with Ferndon, supporting Heyerdahl during negotiations in which Chilean authorities threatened to confiscate all of the expedition's archaeological materials, excavating reed huts with Smith, and conducting excavations on the islands of Hivaoa and Raivavae with Skjolsvold. On Raivavae, Gonzalo and Skjolsvold performed a prodigious amount of archaeological work in a relatively short time. Ferndon recounted how a "grim and bearded Gonzalo" showed the other team members "beautifully excavated" terraces "standing clean and neat as if recently swept and dusted", and Figueroa's and Skjolsvold's "work output was certainly in excess of what one would normally expect."〔Ferndon, E.N. 1966: 182-3.〕 Figueroa did not agree with Heyderdahl's theory that Polynesia was colonized by South Americans sailing balsa rafts, and strongly disliked aspects of Heyderdahl's behavior during the expedition.〔(''Gonzalo Figueroa'', by Malcolm Coad, The Guardian, September 3, 2008 )〕 Nevertheless, he remained Heyerdahl's friend and refused to speak publicly about their differences, even after Heyerdahl's death in 2002.〔 One result of the expedition was the first re-erection of a ''moai'' on its ''ahu'' platform. Another result was international attention that began the process of turning Rapa Nui into a tourist attraction.〔Martinsson-Wallin, H. (2004). ''A historical perspective on the restoration and re-construction of ceremonial sites on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) – A discussion of the recycling of stones with mana''. Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association Bulletin, Taipei Papers 2:159-167.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gonzalo Figueroa Garcia Huidobro」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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