For years, the origins of the Rapa Nui (Easter Island) writing system, known as Rongorongo, have sparked debates among archaeologists. Was it a creation of the island’s inhabitants, or did European influences play a part?
Recent research involving radiocarbon dating of four Rongorongo tablets has shed new light on this mystery. The dating of one tablet suggests it was created before Europeans arrived in the 1720s.
Yet, this conclusion comes with a caveat. The dating only indicates when the tree used to make the tablet was cut down. Moreover, with only one tablet predating European contact, the evidence is not conclusive.
Humans have made their mark on nearly every part of the planet. This journey of exploration and settlement took tens of thousands of years. One of the last places reached by ancient humans was Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, in the southeastern Pacific. The island, which lies 2,360 miles from the coast of Chile, was annexed by the country in 1888. Its indigenous people, also called Rapa Nui, settled there between 1150 and 1280 CE and remained isolated until Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen arrived in 1722.
When Europeans eventually discovered Rapa Nui, they were not only fascinated by the island’s iconic moai statues but also by a mysterious script called Rongorongo. This script, filled with pictorial glyphs, remained undeciphered. It wasn’t described until 1864, leaving archaeologists and historians to wonder: Did the Rapa Nui people develop this language system on their own, or were they influenced by European visitors?
A groundbreaking study now suggests the possibility that Rongorongo was an independent invention of the Rapa Nui people. Radiocarbon dating of one of the 27 known wooden objects bearing Rongorongo inscriptions dates it to between 1493 and 1509, before European arrival. This finding points to the remarkable possibility that Rongorongo was a rare, indigenous creation in human history, a feat typically associated with advanced civilizations.
Further supporting the theory of an indigenous origin is the fact that Rongorongo operates very differently from European languages, suggesting no clear external influence. Silvia Ferarra, an archaeologist and linguist from the University of Bologna, Italy, and her team published these findings in Scientific Reports in early February.
The question of Rongorongo’s origins is crucial because it touches on the potential for an independent invention of writing, a phenomenon observed in other parts of the world such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica. If Rongorongo indeed predates European contact, it could represent one of the latest independent inventions of writing in human history.
However, the discovery that one of the four examined tablets predates European contact comes with certain limitations. Radiocarbon dating can only determine when the wood was cut, not when it was inscribed. Ferrara notes that using centuries-old wood for inscription would be impractical. Moreover, with only one tablet predating European contact and the others not, the evidence remains partial.
To build a stronger case, Ferrara aims to examine the remaining tablets, which are scattered around the world and difficult to access. The ongoing research seeks to properly acknowledge the contributions of the Rapa Nui people within the broader context of human history.