QUEST FOR INFORMATION RETRIEVAL: AN INSCRIBED RELIC FROM ANCIENT RAPA NUI (EASTER ISLAND) – Part I

• Authors: Melka Tomi S. , Schoch Robert M.
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article focuses on an antique wooden fragment from Easter Island engraved with a single rongorongo (RR) glyph. Based on our analysis, we conclude that the most likely hypothesis regarding this fragment is that it dates to pre-missionary times (prior to 1864). It was a part of some type of weapon or fighting instrument, either of a functional or ritual nature. It may represent a portion of a handle for an obsidian-tipped spear or knife. The “bird”-like RR glyph on the fragment belongs in all probability to a category that has previously been connected in the scholarly literature on RR with “slumber”, and hence “waning”, “demise”, and “death”. Its presence on a hand-weapon or ceremonial warlike artefact suggests a meaningful real-world, “non-literary”, context for this glyph.

Keywords

EN

GLYPH; PRE-MISSIONARY ERA; RAPA NUI; EASTER ISLAND; RONGORONGO SCRIPT

• Publisher: Institute of Oriental Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Asian and African Studies
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 30
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 137 - 172

Contributors

author

Melka Tomi S.

• Las Palmas de G.C., Spain

author

Schoch Robert M.

Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31577/aassav.2021.30.1.07