rongorongo

E9128

Rongorongo is an undeciphered system of glyphs from Easter Island, believed to be a unique and possibly independent invention of writing in Polynesia.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (2)

Surface form Occurrences
Rongorongo 0
rongorongo (disputed script) 1

Statements (52)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Polynesian writing system
logographic script
undeciphered script
writing system
associatedPlace Orongo ceremonial village
associatedRitual birdman cult
conservationStatus fragile artifacts in museums
country Chile
culturalSignificance ritual use
sacred text tradition
directionOfWriting reverse boustrophedon
discoveredBy Eugène Eyraud
discoveryDate 1864
ethnicGroup Rapa Nui people
firstReportedBy Eugène Eyraud
firstReportedIn letter to the Father Superior of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary
firstReportedYear 1864
glyphCountApproximate around 120 basic glyphs
glyphFeatures anthropomorphic figures
geometric shapes
plant motifs
zoomorphic figures
hasUnicodeStatus not encoded in Unicode
heldIn British Museum
Louvre Museum
Museo Antropológico P. Sebastián Englert
Vatican Museums
ISO15924 Roro
languageUsed Rapa Nui language
locatedIn Easter Island
Easter Island
surface form: Rapa Nui
materialUsed reimiro ornaments
stone objects
wooden staffs
wooden tablets
numberOfKnownInscriptions about two dozen artifacts
possibleFunction calendrical information
genealogical records
land or resource records
ritual chants
region Polynesia
scholarlyDebate degree of pre-contact antiquity
whether it encodes full language or mnemonic prompts
scriptDirection bottom-to-top line orientation
left-to-right within each line
scriptFamily unclassified
status undeciphered
timePeriod 19th century documentation
pre-European contact period on Easter Island
writingIndependenceStatus possibly independent invention of writing
writingSystemType glyphic script
pictographic script

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Easter Island hasWritingSystem rongorongo
Rapa Nui people writingSystem rongorongo
this entity surface form: rongorongo (disputed script)