Rongorongo

Rongorongo is an undeciphered system of glyphs carved on wooden objects on Rapa Nui. Its signs are arranged in lines, often read in alternating directions.

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Rongorongo tablets: Wooden artifacts bearing Rongorongo inscriptions, preserved in collections outside Rapa Nui. These surviving objects are the primary evidence for the glyph system.
Reverse boustrophedon: A form of boustrophedon in which lines alternate direction and the writing surface is turned between lines. This layout describes the characteristic orientation of many Rongorongo lines.
European contact with Rapa Nui: The encounters between Rapa Nui and European visitors beginning in 1722. Contact brought outside records but preceded the surviving accounts of Rongorongo's use.
Bishop Jaussen: Tepano Jaussen, a Catholic bishop who collected Rongorongo tablets and sought help interpreting them in the 1860s. His correspondence records an early effort to match signs with a Rapa Nui informant's recitation.
Mamari tablet: A Rongorongo tablet held in Rome, known for an inscription sequence interpreted by some as a lunar calendar. Its repeated signs and possible calendrical sequence make it a prominent test case.
Boustrophedon: A writing arrangement in which successive lines run in opposite directions. Many Rongorongo inscriptions alternate direction, with tablets turned between lines.
Sign frequency: The distribution of how often individual signs or sign groups occur in a corpus. Frequency patterns can test whether Rongorongo behaves like a structured code or text.
Peruvian slave raids of 1862–1863: Raids that abducted thousands of people from Pacific islands, including Rapa Nui, in 1862 and 1863. The loss of Rapa Nui leaders and knowledge-holders contributed to the rupture in local traditions.
Metoro Tau‘a Ure: A Rapa Nui man who recited interpretations of Rongorongo signs for Bishop Jaussen in the 1860s. His readings are a key historical source, though they do not yield a consistent decipherment.
Santiago Staff: A long wooden staff covered with Rongorongo signs, held by the National Museum of Natural History in Santiago, Chile. Its unusually extensive inscription offers one of the largest continuous samples.