Rapa Nui’s Carved Signs and the Search for a Reliable Reading
In 1864, missionary Eugène Eyraud reported wooden objects covered in carved signs in Rapa Nui homes. Birds, people and other shapes repeat in rows. The system is called rongorongo, and researchers still debate exactly how it recorded information.
Slave raids, disease and colonial disruption devastated Rapa Nui communities in the 1860s. The transmission of specialist knowledge was disrupted. Only a few dozen inscribed objects survive; exact counts depend on which fragments and disputed objects are included.
Many readings have been proposed without gaining general acceptance. A convincing explanation must work consistently across the surviving signs.
Thousands of Signs
Thousands of carved signs survive on a small collection of objects. They were made on different woods, including reused wood. The objects preserve patterns, but no complete reading is generally accepted.
~52
One analysis groups variants into about 52 core forms. Such groupings are interpretations; the count alone does not prove a syllabary.
27
Only a few dozen inscribed objects survive in collections around the world.
Early wood
One tablet’s wood was dated to the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. Establishing when it was carved is a separate challenge.
The Evidence
Turning the Lines
The alternating orientation of adjacent lines, illustrated with invented triangular shapes. This is not a glyph transcription or a verified reading.
Adjacent lines reverse orientation, so a reader would rotate the tablet to follow them. This distinctive arrangement is evidence about layout, not proof by itself of an independent invention of writing.
Comparing Texts
An imagined scene inspired by Eyraud’s report of inscribed wooden objects. The number of boards and their placement in this room are not a census or a documented interior.
Tablets H, P and Q preserve closely parallel sign sequences. Repetition supports the study of copying and structure, but does not by itself tell us each sign’s meaning.
Dating Wood and Carving
An imagined conservation study. Radiocarbon tests concern sampled wood; examining a tablet under a microscope is a different task and does not date the carving itself.
A 2024 study dated the wood of one tablet to before European contact. Wood can be older than the signs carved into it, so this is evidence to investigate, not a direct date for the inscription.
The Tablets and Their Changing Context
Oldest Tablet Wood
One tablet’s wood was dated to the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. Establishing when it was carved is a separate challenge.
Spanish Treaty
Spanish explorers visit Easter Island. Chiefs sign a treaty using marks that some historians think resemble rongorongo — possibly the earliest European witness of the script.
The Slave Raids
Slave raids, disease and colonial disruption devastate Rapa Nui communities in the 1860s. These losses damaged the transmission of knowledge; the surviving record does not identify the fate of every person who could interpret the signs.
Eyraud’s Report
Eyraud reports inscribed wooden objects in homes in 1864. His report documents their presence, but does not establish exactly how many knowledgeable readers remained.
The Jaussen-Metoro Sessions
Bishop Jaussen works with Metoro Tau'a Ure in Tahiti, recording his chanting over four tablets. His recitations have not supplied a dependable sign-by-sign reading; this does not establish his private intentions.
Barthel's Catalogue
Thomas Barthel catalogues rongorongo signs and proposes a lunar-calendar interpretation for part of the Mamari tablet. Identifying a likely subject is different from translating the entire passage.
Radiocarbon Breakthrough
A 2024 study dates one tablet’s wood to before European contact, raising new questions about the age of its carving.
The People in This Story
Brother Eyraud
French Catholic missionary who arrived on Easter Island in January 1864 and was the first outsider to report the existence of rongorongo tablets. His report was not a census of the tablets or their readers. He died on the island in 1868.
Bishop Jaussen
Bishop of Tahiti who recognised the tablets' significance in 1868. He collected several tablets and spent years working with Metoro Tau'a Ure, producing the famous "Jaussen List" of glyph meanings.
Silvia Ferrara
Italian philologist at the University of Bologna whose 2024 radiocarbon dating study placed tablet wood at 1493-1509 — evidence relevant to its age, although the carving could be later than the wood.
The Question That Remains
The surviving objects differ in condition and completeness. Their repeating signs can be studied, but no complete reading is generally accepted.
How did the signs record information, and when did the practice begin? Rapa Nui oral knowledge also preserves cultural meanings that a sign-by-sign translation alone cannot capture.
Read the full book to investigate the key clues and competing explanations — then decide for yourself.
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Check the evidence
What the evidence supports
Carved rongorongo signs survive on objects from Rapa Nui. Rapa Nui people continue to share cultural and oral knowledge about the tablets. A 2024 study dated wood samples, not the moments when signs were carved.
Where to be careful
No full sign decipherment is generally accepted. Origins, sign grouping and the relationship to spoken language remain debated. Wood reuse and differing object inventories limit simple date and count claims.
Explore the sources
These selected sources support this guide and offer further reading. Some are written for adults; explore them with a parent or teacher.
- Ferrara and colleagues, The chronology of the wooden tablets from Rapa Nui (2024)
- Australian Museum, Kohau rongorongo (updated 28 May 2026)
The story and illustrations are modern retellings. Imagined scene details are not historical evidence. These sources are a starting point, not citations for every narrative detail.
Evidence guide reviewed .