GabyAn international team of scientists used radiocarbon dating to study the mysterious wooden rongorongo tablets from Easter Island. This undeciphered script is unlike any known writing system. The researchers suggested that the island’s language may be unique—formed in isolation, without external influence.
Strangely, the texts are engraved on wood from trees that never grew on the island.
The new study, aimed at uncovering the origins of this island script, was funded by the European Research Council and brought together scholars from leading research centers in Italy, Germany, and Switzerland.
What the scientists revealed
Radiocarbon dating of several ancient tablets revealed that some of the earliest engravings were made before the arrival of Europeans. This indicates that the rongorongo script originated independently on the island, without influence from foreign writing systems.
Rongorongo engravings were first discovered in 1864. Today, only 27 such tablets remain worldwide—and none of them are located on Easter Island itself.
Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui, is located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, about 3,800 kilometers from the coast of Chile. It is one of the most remote inhabited places on Earth. The island is best known for its moai—giant stone statues resembling human heads, some as tall as 20 meters.
By the end of the 18th century, the native culture of Easter Island had been devastated by disease outbreaks and European raids, which began after their first arrival in the 1720s.
As a result, the rongorongo script disappeared over 200 years ago. To this day, it remains undeciphered. Researchers noted that “the surviving texts are relatively long and written using pictorial symbols, often called ‘glyphs’.” According to the study’s authors, rongorongo signs depict various images, including human poses, body parts, animals, plants, tools, celestial bodies, and more.
It’s difficult to determine exactly when or how this writing system emerged. The glyphs do not resemble any known script. It’s possible that the tablets contain an entirely independent form of writing—similar to what occurred in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica (the land of the Aztecs).
What else did researchers discover?
The team found that two tablets were made from trees cut down in the first half of the 19th century—after Europeans had already arrived on Easter Island. Further investigation dated four additional rongorongo engravings, which missionaries removed from the island in 1869. These are currently stored in Rome, according to IFLScience.
Three of the tablets were made from trees felled in the 19th century. However, one tablet came from a tree cut between 1493 and 1509—at least 200 years before the arrival of outsiders. This again raises hope that rongorongo was developed in complete isolation.
Interestingly, this tablet was made from Podocarpus latifolia, a tree species that does not grow on Easter Island but is native to South Africa. According to researchers, since medieval times, this type of wood was commonly used for making ship masts—suggesting it could have washed ashore as debris from a sunken European ship.
It’s impossible to say how long the wood may have floated at sea before islanders salvaged it and transformed it into a writing surface.
According to the authors, “If the exceptional age of the tablet indicates that the Rapa Nui people invented their script without outside influence, then rongorongo may represent one of the few independently developed writing systems.”
The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.
