Editing Thor Heyerdahl (section)

===Revision of hypothesis===

One of the last projects of his life, ''[[Jakten på Odin]]'', 'The Search for Odin', was a sudden revision of his Odin hypothesis, in furtherance of which he initiated 2001–2002 excavations in [[Azov]], [[Russia]], near the [[Sea of Azov]] at the northeast of the [[Black Sea]].<ref name="Storfjell">Storfjell, "[http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/ai102_folder/102_articles/102_heyerdahl_storfjell.html Thor Heyerdahl's Final Projects]," in Azerbaijan International, Vol. 10:2 (Summer 2002).</ref> He searched for the remains of a civilization to match the account of Odin in Snorri Sturlusson, significantly further north of his original target of Azerbaijan on the [[Caspian Sea]] only two years earlier. This project generated harsh criticism and accusations of pseudoscience from historians, archaeologists and linguists in Norway, who accused Heyerdahl of selective use of sources, and a basic lack of scientific methodology in his work.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Thor Heyerdahl og Per Lillieström. Jakten på Odin. På sporet av vår fortid.Oslo: J.M. Stenersens forlag, 2001. 320 s |trans-title=Thor Heyerdahl and Per Lillieström. The hunt for Odin. On the trail of our past. Oslo: J.M. Stenersen's publishing house, 2001. 320 p. |url=http://www.novus.no/tidsskrifter/heyerdahl.PDF |date=2002 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725013912/http://www.novus.no/tidsskrifter/heyerdahl.PDF |archive-date=25 July 2011 |journal=Maal og Minne 1 (2002) |department=Reviews |pages=98–109 |language=no |access-date=8 October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Stahlsberg |first=Anne |date=13 March 2006 |title=Ytringsfrihet og påstått vitenskap – et dilemma? (Freedom of expression and alleged science – a dilemma?) |url=http://skepsis.no/?p=517 |access-date=20 June 2012}} (pdf at [http://skepsis.no/?p=517&article2pdf=1])</ref>

His central claims were based on similarities of names in Norse mythology and geographic names in the Black Sea region, e.g. ''Azov'' and ''Æsir'', [[Udi people|Udi]] and Odin, [[Tyr]] and [[Turkey]]. Philologists and historians reject these parallels as mere coincidences, and also anachronisms, for instance the city of Azov did not have that name until over 1,000 years after Heyerdahl claims the Æsir dwelt there. The controversy surrounding the Search for Odin project was in many ways typical of the relationship between Heyerdahl and the academic community. His theories rarely won any scientific acceptance, whereas Heyerdahl himself rejected all scientific criticism and concentrated on publishing his theories in popular books aimed at the general public.{{Citation needed|date=June 2012}}

{{As of|2025}}, Heyerdahl's Odin hypothesis has yet to be validated by any historian, archaeologist or linguist.