Course outline
Module 1
Module 1: Discovery and Early Documentation
Discovery and Early Documentation
Knowledge check
Q1. Rongorongo is the name of a written script associated with which island?
- A. Tahiti
- B. Easter Island (Rapa Nui) ✓
- C. Hawaii
- D. The Marquesas Islands
Why: Rongorongo is the undeciphered script of Easter Island (Rapa Nui), used by its Polynesian inhabitants and carved or painted on wooden tablets, staves, and other objects.
Q2. Roughly when were the first European written records of Rongorongo tablets made?
- A. In the 1500s, during early Spanish voyages
- B. In the 1700s, during Captain Cook's visits
- C. In the 1860s, after Easter Island's population declined ✓
- D. In the 1950s, after Thor Heyerdahl's expedition
Why: Missionaries and others documented Rongorongo in the 1860s, and the tablets were noticed and collected around that time, though the script's existence was known to Europeans somewhat earlier through the 1770s-1800s accounts of Easter Island.
Q3. What is the traditional Rapa Nui name often given to the Rongorongo script's wooden objects?
- A. Moai
- B. Kohau rongorongo ✓
- C. Ahu
- D. Tupuna
Why: The Rapa Nui term kohau rongorongo refers to the inscribed wooden boards and staves that carry the script, rongorongo itself meaning roughly 'recitation' or 'to chant.'
Q4. Which early figure is credited with helping document Rongorongo by recording the Easter Island tablets and their symbols?
- A. Jacob Roggeveen
- B. Bishop Jaussen (Tepano Jaussen), a Catholic bishop ✓
- C. Ferdinand Magellan
- D. Abel Tasman
Why: Bishop Tepano Jaussen, Catholic Bishop of Tahiti, collected and studied Rongorongo in the 1860s and helped bring attention to the script in European scholarship.
Q5. Why has Rongorongo remained difficult to decipher?
- A. Because the script was written in a language no longer spoken anywhere
- B. Because very few examples survive and the script is not fully understood, so scholars cannot reliably link its signs to a known language ✓
- C. Because the tablets were all destroyed in a fire
- D. Because the script uses only pictures of animals with no symbols
Why: Only about two dozen objects survive, the corpus is small, and the script's signs and their relation to the Rapa Nui language remain disputed, making decipherment very difficult.
Module 2
Module 2: Origins and Cultural Context
Origins and Cultural Context
Knowledge check
Q1. Rongorongo is the traditional writing system associated with which Pacific island?
- A. Tahiti
- B. Easter Island (Rapa Nui) ✓
- C. Hawaii
- D. Samoa
Why: Rongorongo is a set of glyphs found on wooden tablets from Easter Island (Rapa Nui), in the southeastern Pacific Ocean.
Q2. What material were most surviving rongorongo inscriptions carved into?
- A. Stone slabs
- B. Clay pottery
- C. Wood, typically toromiro or similar local timber ✓
- D. Bone fragments
Why: Almost all surviving rongorongo texts are carved on wooden objects, including tablets, staves, and figurines, with toromiro wood being commonly identified.
Q3. Roughly how many surviving rongorongo inscribed objects are known today?
- A. About 500
- B. About 25 ✓
- C. About 5,000
- D. About 2
Why: About 25 surviving objects bearing rongorongo inscriptions are known, and no one today can fully read the script.
Q4. What does the name 'rongorongo' roughly mean in the Rapa Nui language?
- A. Sacred island
- B. To recite or chant, referring to reciting texts aloud ✓
- C. Ancestor's voice
- D. Written stone
Why: The name is generally understood to relate to recitation or chanting, reflecting the idea that the glyphs were read aloud by specialists.
Q5. Why is the decipherment of rongorongo still incomplete?
- A. The script was never used for real writing
- B. Few examples survive, and the tradition of readers was largely lost after colonial contact and population decline ✓
- C. The glyphs are identical to Egyptian hieroglyphs
- D. All tablets were preserved in a single complete collection
Why: Limited surviving texts, the loss of knowledgeable reciters after 19th-century disruption, and the lack of a bilingual key all hinder decipherment.
Module 3
Module 3: The Glyphs and Their Structure
The Glyphs and Their Structure
Knowledge check
Q1. Rongorongo is the undeciphered writing system associated with which island?
- A. Tahiti
- B. Easter Island (Rapa Nui) ✓
- C. Hawaii
- D. Pitcairn Island
Why: Rongorongo is the script of Easter Island (Rapa Nui), in the southeastern Pacific. Its tablets and staves are the only known examples of writing from Polynesia.
Q2. On what type of material were most rongorongo texts inscribed?
- A. Clay tablets
- B. Stone walls
- C. Wooden tablets and staves ✓
- D. Woven palm leaves
Why: Most surviving rongorongo texts are carved into wooden tablets (and a few staves, or rei miro pendants). Wood was the material used for nearly all known examples.
Q3. Rongorongo glyphs are generally written in which reading pattern?
- A. Strictly left to right in every line
- B. Top to bottom in columns
- C. Boustrophedon, alternating direction line by line ✓
- D. Right to left only
Why: Rongorongo is typically written in boustrophedon style, meaning lines alternate direction, and many texts are read with the tablet rotated 180 degrees between lines, like an ox turning while plowing.
Q4. Approximately how many surviving rongorongo objects are known today?
- A. Over 10,000
- B. About 500
- C. Around 26 objects ✓
- D. Fewer than 5
Why: About 26 surviving objects bearing rongorongo inscriptions are known, including tablets and staves. This small corpus is a major obstacle to decipherment.
Q5. Which of the following is a commonly recognized structural feature of rongorongo glyphs?
- A. Each glyph contains alphabetic letters only
- B. Glyphs often consist of a main figure with attached smaller signs called ornaments or modifiers ✓
- C. Glyphs are always identical in size and shape
- D. Glyphs are written in a continuous wavy line without breaks
Why: Many rongorongo glyphs are built from a main sign with smaller attached elements, such as ornaments, or signs that modify meaning. Recognizing these structural components is central to studying the script.
Module 4
Module 4: The Reimagua Tablets
The Reimagua Tablets
Knowledge check
Q1. Rongorongo is the undeciphered writing system associated with which island?
- A. Tahiti
- B. Easter Island (Rapa Nui) ✓
- C. Hawaii
- D. Samoa
Why: Rongorongo is a set of glyph-based inscriptions found on Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in the southeastern Pacific, and it remains undeciphered.
Q2. Rongorongo texts were typically written in which direction?
- A. Strictly left to right in every line
- B. Strictly top to bottom in columns
- C. Boustrophedon, alternating direction line by line like an ox plowing a field ✓
- D. Right to left only
Why: Rongorongo is generally read in boustrophedon style, with lines alternating direction, and many texts have inverted glyphs in alternate lines, which helps readers follow the reading order.
Q3. What material were most surviving rongorongo inscriptions carved or written on?
- A. Stone slabs
- B. Clay tablets
- C. Wooden boards and staffs ✓
- D. Woven palm leaves
Why: Most of the roughly two dozen surviving rongorongo objects are wooden tablets, staffs, and similar items, often made from toromiro or other local woods.
Q4. What is the name given to the wooden tablets whose inscriptions are discussed in this module?
- A. The Kohau Tablets
- B. The Reimagua Tablets ✓
- C. The Tahua Codices
- D. The Moai Scrolls
Why: The Reimagua Tablets are one of the documented rongorongo artifacts, named after a Rapa Nui figure associated with their history, and are studied in this module.
Q5. Why has rongorongo remained difficult to decipher?
- A. It is written in a language with no living speakers and very few surviving texts, and its glyphs are not clearly tied to spoken words ✓
- B. It was deliberately destroyed by colonial authorities
- C. It is written in an alphabet identical to Latin
- D. All the texts were copied by a single scribe, leaving no variety
Why: Only about two dozen objects survive, the language is poorly documented, and the glyphs' link to spoken language is unclear, so scholars cannot reliably connect symbols to sounds or meanings.
Module 5
Module 5: Attempts at Decipherment
Attempts at Decipherment
Knowledge check
Q1. Rongorongo is a writing system associated with which island?
- A. Tahiti
- B. Easter Island (Rapa Nui) ✓
- C. Hawaii
- D. Pitcairn Island
Why: Rongorongo is the undeciphered script of Easter Island (Rapa Nui), in the southeastern Pacific. Its name is often translated as 'recitation' or 'to recite,' reflecting its use as a memory aid for chants.
Q2. Approximately how many surviving rongorongo texts or inscribed objects are known today?
- A. About 2,000
- B. About 500
- C. About 25 ✓
- D. About 5,000
Why: Only about 25 objects bearing rongorongo inscriptions survive, such as wooden tablets, staffs, and a reed-bundle fragment. This tiny corpus is one of the main obstacles to decipherment.
Q3. Which of the following is a major reason decipherment of rongorongo has proven so difficult?
- A. The script was written on stone monuments that were destroyed
- B. The script has no known bilingual text and very few surviving examples ✓
- C. The script is identical to Egyptian hieroglyphs
- D. Scholars cannot agree on which direction the script was read
Why: Without a bilingual inscription like the Rosetta Stone and with only about 25 surviving objects, decipherers have little material to test hypotheses against. The script's reading direction (boustrophedon, alternating lines) is actually fairly well established.
Q4. What unusual writing pattern is characteristic of rongorongo texts?
- A. Text is written in vertical columns from right to left only
- B. Text alternates direction line by line, boustrophedon style, with glyphs often rotated 180 degrees ✓
- C. Text is carved in a spiral from the center outward
- D. Text is written in a single unbroken line with no spacing
Why: Rongorongo is written boustrophedon, meaning each line reads in the opposite direction from the previous one, like an ox plowing a field. Alternate lines also have their glyphs rotated 180 degrees, which helps readers track the lines.
Q5. What is the prevailing scholarly view of the relationship between rongorongo and spoken language?
- A. It is a complete phonetic alphabet recording every spoken syllable
- B. It is a purely decorative system with no link to language
- C. It is generally believed to be a mnemonic device that prompted the recitation of memorized chants, rather than a full transcription of speech ✓
- D. It is a numerical system used only for counting livestock
Why: Most scholars consider rongorongo a mnemonic aid: its glyphs likely served as prompts for reciting memorized chants (genealogies, myths, and rituals), rather than recording every word phonetically. This view is consistent with the name 'recitation' and with accounts from the 19th century of islanders reading texts aloud.
Module 6
Module 6: Rongorongo and Oral Tradition
Rongorongo and Oral Tradition
Knowledge check
Q1. Rongorongo is a writing system associated with which Pacific island?
- A. Tahiti
- B. Easter Island (Rapa Nui) ✓
- C. Hawaii
- D. Samoa
Why: Rongorongo is the undeciphered script of Easter Island (Rapa Nui), known from a small number of wooden tablets and other objects carved with glyphs.
Q2. Approximately how many rongorongo tablets or inscribed objects are known to survive today?
- A. About 500
- B. About 50
- C. About 25 ✓
- D. About 5,000
Why: Roughly 25 inscribed objects, mostly wooden tablets, survive in museum collections around the world, which is why the script is so difficult to study.
Q3. What material were most rongorongo inscriptions carved into?
- A. Stone
- B. Clay
- C. Wood, often toromiro or similar local timber ✓
- D. Bone only
Why: Most surviving inscriptions are carved into wood, such as the toromiro tree, and the boards were often shaped as long tablets or staffs.
Q4. How is rongorongo's reading direction traditionally described?
- A. Strictly left to right
- B. Right to left only
- C. Boustrophedon, alternating direction line by line like an ox plowing a field ✓
- D. Top to bottom in columns only
Why: Rongorongo is generally read in boustrophedon style, with lines alternating direction and often with the tablet rotated 180 degrees between lines.
Q5. Why is the relationship between rongorongo and oral tradition important to scholars?
- A. It proves the script was invented by Europeans
- B. The glyphs may have served as mnemonic aids for chants and genealogies recited by specialists ✓
- C. It shows the script was used only for trade records
- D. It indicates the script was copied from Polynesian alphabets
Why: Many scholars believe rongorongo supported memorization of oral chants and genealogies, with the glyphs acting as prompts for trained reciters rather than a full record of spoken language.
Module 7
Module 7: Preservation and Modern Scholarship
Preservation and Modern Scholarship
Knowledge check
Q1. Rongorongo is the name of the undeciphered script associated with which island?
- A. Tahiti
- B. Easter Island (Rapa Nui) ✓
- C. Hawaii
- D. Pitcairn Island
Why: Rongorongo is the script of Easter Island (Rapa Nui), in the southeastern Pacific. Its name is usually translated as 'recitation' or 'to recite,' reflecting its likely use in chanted texts.
Q2. How many rongorongo tablets or inscribed objects survive today?
- A. Over 1,000
- B. About 500
- C. Roughly two dozen ✓
- D. Only one
Why: About two dozen objects bearing rongorongo inscriptions survive, including wooden tablets, staffs, and a few other items. This tiny corpus is a major obstacle to decipherment.
Q3. Why did many surviving rongorongo objects end up in museums and collections abroad?
- A. They were traded to European merchants in the 19th century ✓
- B. They were buried with the dead on the island
- C. They were stored in a central temple that was never found
- D. They were sent to Chile for safekeeping in the 1700s
Why: Many objects were collected or traded from the island in the 19th century, and some were taken abroad. Their dispersal into museums across Europe and South America is one reason the corpus is so scattered.
Q4. What is the main reason scholars have struggled to decipher rongorongo?
- A. The script uses only a single symbol repeated many times
- B. The script was destroyed in a fire before being recorded
- C. The surviving corpus is small and the script may not have been fully understood by later Islanders ✓
- D. The script is written in a language no longer spoken anywhere on Earth
Why: The small corpus, combined with the decline of literacy after European contact and the deaths of knowledgeable elders, leaves little context for decipherment. Scholars still debate whether it encodes language or serves a mnemonic function.
Q5. Which modern approach has been used to study rongorongo's structure and possible relation to language?
- A. Carbon dating of the tablets' ink to find the author
- B. Statistical and computational analysis of sign sequences and repetition patterns ✓
- C. Translating the tablets using a known Polynesian dictionary alone
- D. DNA sequencing of wood fibers to identify the tree species only
Why: Researchers have applied statistical and computational methods, such as analyzing sign frequencies and repeated sequences, to test whether the script behaves like language. These tools help evaluate hypotheses without a full decipherment.