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Rongo-Rongo

© Copyright 2002, Jim Loy

On the left, we see one side of a piece of wood (if I remember correctly) showing the Easter Island Rongo-Rongo script. There are a dozen or so objects with this script on them, and the writing has not been deciphered. Rongo-Rongo was apparently invented when Easter Islanders saw European writing, and decided to invent writing of their own. When the inventors of the written language died out, it was found that there was no one left to read it. Some progress at a decipherment has been made, as a search of the WWW shows.

The direction of writing is unique in the history of writing. The first line is at the bottom (indistinct in this picture) and goes left to right. The second line from the bottom must be read by turning the object upside down, and reads left to right. The third line is read by turning the object back rightside up, and reads left to right. Alternating lines are upside down. The same is true of the writing on the back side of this object, and all other Rongo-Rongo objects.

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