Post #448860 by christiki295 on Wed, Apr 22, 2009 10:05 AM

If one looks at Tiki as the representation of man in art, various aspects of African Art seem to share the same qualities.

It is well accepted that Hawaiians came from the Marquesas (French Polynesia-Tahiti) and Dr. Joanna Tilburg of UCLA has written that the first Tiki originated on Rapa Nui - Easter Island.
http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=7725&forum=1&16

So, the question becomes: where did those people from the Marquesas & Rapa Nui come from and did they originate from the same groups as are responsible for what we now refer to as African Art?

As the Out of Africa migration theory (and also the Multiregional theory) suggests that all man came from Homos (erectus, sapien, whatever) in Africa, than those Homos form the groups that learned to build voyaging canoes and populated the South Pacific?

And, did those early star-gazing Voyagers take Tiki with them from Africa?

Or are the similarities in the art coincidental as both groups independently expressed themselves in art the same way?

For all of you who think that this topic is somehow overtly religious and is going to step on the toes of those who practice Astrozorianism, Catholicism, Hiduism, Islamism, Judiasm, Wicca, or whatever (or encourage others to practice such religion), you need to chill and have a Mai Tai.

[ Edited by: christiki295 2009-04-22 10:12 ]