The Tigris Expedition: In Search of Our Beginnings

What better place to build a ship of reeds than the Garden of Eden, with Adam’s Tree close by, and on the bank of a river that flows from Ararat, where Noah’s legendary ark came to rest so long ago? That is in fact where Thor Heyerdahl’s Tigris adventure began. It led him and his companions from nine different nations in search of sea-routes which he was sure must have been used by the ancient Sumerians 5000 years ago on vessels like his own. He built his ship of reeds gathered locally in the swamps of southern Iraq, and he used reed-boat builders brought from the highlands of South America, where such vessels are still used today.

Believing that the sea, rather than being a separator of peoples, was actually the means by which early civilisations were brought together, they sailed down the Tigris to the Gulf and eventually to the ocean, a voyage which led to many discoveries and through many hazards.