Easter Island/Rapa Nui

An even greater mystery than how the Moai were moved has to do with the writing called Rongorongo. Because of slavery, disease, theft, rot, and destruction for religious reasons, only 24 examples of this unique form of writing exist in the whole world (unless more are still hidden). Yet, a French missionary in 1864 reported that in every household there were hundreds of tablets and staves with writing on them.

Rongorongo is a word in Rapanui having to do with sharing messages or information. It is related to the Hawaiian word lono, which means, in part, "news, report, tidings, remembrance." As a form of writing it consists of ideograms - images representing ideas - somewhat similar in concept to ancient Chinese characters or Egyptian hieroglyphics. The style of writing itself is classified as "bustrofedon." This means that reading begins on the bottom line, reading left to right, and then the text must be turned upside down and the next line up is read left to right, and the process repeated. In the remaining examples of text only about 150 separate characters have been identified in about 2000 combinations, not enough for analytical interpretation. However, there is still some oral tradition relating to some of the remaining texts, enough to determine that the content mainly concerned religious or philosophical concepts. Another type of writing, called Ta'u, was used for historical events (and finding any information on this is very difficult).

Rongorongo writing was carved mostly on wood, but some small samples exist on stone. The longest texts remaining were carved on a very rare wood called Toromiro, a reddish hardwood related to mahogany, and therefore Hawaiian koa as well, that used to grow on Rapa Nui. Englert recorded stories about Rongorongo written on a soft wood called hauhau (similar in name to Hawaiian hau and used for similar purposes, but a different species altogether) and how these tablets were stored in caves, but rotted away. A few examples existed - and may still exist - on stone as well.

There are no original examples of Rongorongo tablets displayed on Rapa Nui today, not even in the Englert museum, but a few very nicely made replicas can be found in a couple of shops and in the handicraft markets. Most of these were not more than 35 cm (about 15 in) long, but a a large one about two meters long and a meter and a half high was located in our hotel lobby. I was fortunate to find a beautiful, hand-made replica about 64 cm (25 in) long at a craft table in the woods where we had lunch at the foot of Rano Rararu crater.

There is a huge amount of controversy regarding the origin as well as the meaning of the Rongorongo glyphs, but they are not quite as unique as most people think. Some of the images, in virtually identical form, can be found in Hawaiian petroglyphs on the Big Island (Hawaii has petroglyphs that appear to be a form of writing, too). Also, according to a friend of mine from New Zealand, the Maori chiefs who signed the Treaty of Waitangi included eight glyphs that match those in the Rongorongo script. The possibility that the Polynesians once had a widespread form of writing is very real.

However, for a very different idea of Rongorongo, its origin and meaning, visit the intriguing website of Steven Fischer's interpretation, a nice man we met at our hotel and who is a tour leader, author, and recognized expert on Rapa Nui. And so, this is the end of my story. It is too brief to do justice to the experience of being on Rapanui, or to the great body knowledge that exists about it, but perhaps I have given you more than you expected, and whetted your appetite for even more than that.