Anthropology 1165: Digging the Glyphs

Study Guide: Quiz Two

Cara
April 9
Robinson, A., 2002, "Birdmen of Rapanui," Lost Languages, 218-243. [25 pp]
Robinson, A., 2002, "The Phaistos Disk," Lost Languages, 297-315. [18 pp]

Rongorongo

April 9 Lecture

Easter Island (Rapanui) [CHILE]

• 66 square miles, 15 miles max length, 1, 167 ft max elevation
• predomionently volcanic, but with a gentle topography
• subtropical (27 degrees S) latitude

Important Dates in Easter Island History

• 1722 (Easter Sunday) – discovered by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen; treeless, barren,
with poorly-nourished population of ~ 3, 000
• 1770 – claimed by Spanish in military signing/”treaty signing”
• 1774 – Captain James Cook lands (with Tahitian guide)
• 1862-3 – Two dozen Peruvian slaving ships abduct 1,500. Under int’l pressire, repatriate
dozen, who intro smallpox to island. By 1872, 111 islanders left
• 1869-70 – Florentin Etienne ‘Tepano’ Jaussen, bishop of Tahiti, calls attn to rongorongo
tablets, attempting “translation” with help of islander Metoro Tau’a Ure
• 1886 – William Judah Thompson, American navel officer, purchases two tablets and
persuades 83-year-old man Ure Va’e Iko, to “read” them
• 1915-20 – Katherine and Scoresby Routledge, two British anthropologists, collect myths
and ethnographic data on island. Rongorongo by now not in use. [only 24-26 rongorongo
texts survive today]
• 1935-1969 – Sebastian Englert, Capuchin priest, complies small Spanish-Rapanui
dictionary, published in La Tierra de Hotu Matu’a (1948)

“Colonel” James Churchward (1888-1969)

• Eccentric British-born author of The Lost Continent of Mu (1926)
o Book claimed to prove former existence of great continent in middle of Pacific
Ocean (now sunken) from which the islands and peoples of modern Polynesia
(and Hawaii and Easter Island) descend

Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002)

• Norwegian adventurer who sailed a balsa raft from Peru to Polynesia in 1947 in order to
prove fis controversial theory that the islands were settled by a “white race” from South
America – later detailed in his books Kon-Tiki (1950), Aku-Aku (1958), and Easter
Island: The Mystery Solved (1989)
Erich von Daniken (1935-?)
• Swiss originator of the “Ancient Astronaut hypothesis” – the concept that extraterrestrials
influenced early human concepts
o Claims that moai depicted alien benefactors, without whom the Polynesians
would have been unable to carve and erect such colossal statues (Chariots of the
Gods, 1968)

Between 1200 BC and Ad 900-950 Polynesia expanded, leaving Easter Island where it stands
today.

Father Sebastian Englert (1888-1969)

• Born in Bavaria to German parents, Englert was a well-travleed Capuchin Franciscan
friar, missionary, and linguist who lived on Easter Island from 1935 until his death
• Wrote La tierra de Hotu Matu’a (1948), in depth study of history/customs/language of
Easter Island

Proto-Polynesian – Proto-Tongic – Tongan/Niuean

“” – Proto-Nuclear Polynesian – Proto-Samoic –
Samoan/Tokelauan/Tuvalu/Pukapuka/Nukuoro/Nuguria/Takuu
“” – Proto-Nuclear Polynesian – Proto-East Polynesian – Proto-Central – Hawaiian/N.
Marquesan/S. Marquesan/Tahitian/Rarotongan/Maori
“” – Proto-Nuclear Polynesian – Proto-East Polynesian – Easter Island – Rapanui

Rano Raraku
• 397 moai (in various stages of carving) were abandoned in the extinct volcanic crater that
served as Easter Island’s main quarry
o Vary in size from 15-70 ft tall, weigh 10-270 tons
• Transport roads (~25 ft wide) go through notch in wall and diverge, leading 9 miles to
coast
o 97 moai abandoned along highways
• 300 stone platforms associated with 393 moai erected along coast
o intentionally toppled and broken

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Robinson, A., 2002, "Birdmen of Rapanui," Lost Languages, 218-243. [25 pp]

Rongorongo (writing system)

• Means “chants” or “recitations”
• Undeciphered script that writes what is almost certainly a Polynesian script similar to
various modern languages of Oceania
 • Direction of writing is reverse-boustrophedon
• One corpus has been identified as a calendar
• SUPPOSITION ONE: In 1932 Hungarian engineer living in Paris, Guillaune de Hevesy,
claimed that Rongorongo and similarly undeciphered Indus Valley characters are related
o Two separated by 2000-3500 years, 13, 000 miles of ocean
o Related through also undeciphered proto-Elamite script
 Although this does not share much visually with either
o 1934-5 Franco-Belgian expedition to Pacific to test theory, but 1950s before
theory tossed out
• No inscriptions are dated.
• Oral tradition recorded in the 19th century has it that the first settler, Hotu Matu’a,
brought 67 tablets from homeland in Polynesia. This may be myth and writing just
attributed to him to make it respectable even though it was centuries after he was around.
o PROBLEM: if writing invented on island, why are there no inscriptions on moai
or cave walls?
o There are petroglyphs close to Rongorongo
 On wooden tablets might predate European contact
 Might be that they were around, but no one on island had figured out how
to use them to represent phonetic speech
• First European visitors were Dutch under Jacob Roggeveen in 1722; party saw no
evidence of writing, only moai
• Spanish came in 1770, claimed it for Spain, and then sailed away
o Natives who look like chiefs drafted to mark treaty
 Used common petroglyphs recognized as “vulva” and “bird” – NOT
Rongorongo though
• Not evidence that they couldn’t write; just not used to pen/ink,
confused by Spanish, maybe Rongorongo was a scribe-only
writing
• First Rongorongo sighting recored by French missionary Joseph-Eugene Eyraud in 1864.
Almost gone.
o Possible that was created and ended between 1770 and 1860s.
o Implausible but does accord with age of wood tablets
• Corpus is between 14,000 and 17,000 characters, depending on how you count complex
characters
o On 25 wood blocks
o Longest is Santiago staff; has 2300 characters

Rongorongo Decipherment
• Cleric Florentin Etienne “Tepano” Jaussen, bishop of Tahiti in 1869-70
o Had native Metoro Tau’a Ure chant tablets [UNKNOWN WHICH ONE], wrote it
phonetically. Jauseen turned into French-Rapanui pronunciation chart.
 Thought that Metoro didn’t actually know meanings, he had already said
he was just repeating what he had heard said, and then guessed at
meanings thinking they might be pictographic.
• Rongorongo read from bottom left-hand corner, read along line 1 to right-hand corner,
turn tablet 180 degress, begin reading line 2 from left to right again. End of line 2, repeat
180 degrees to return tablet to original position, read line 3 from left to right
• Theory: could be mnemonic signs
• T. H. Huxley, scientist
o THEORY: boards used for stamping cloth, not writing
• Willian Judah Thompson, American naval officer
o 1886: made old drunk dude chant from pic (taboo to chant from real)
o Most significant part: “Atua-Mata-Riri” (God Angry Eyes); 48 verses of sex
stories involving gods
• Katherine and Scoresby Routledge, British anthropologists
o Were told in 1915 that the “words were new, but letters old”
• Yuri Knorozov, Russia, 1950s + collaborator Nikolai Butinov
o Looked for regularities; claimed four categories – logograms, logograms
combined with determinatives, phonetic signs combined with determinatives, and
purely phonetic signs such as “sun” and “raisin” that read as “they” when
pronounced together
o Looked at Small Santiago tablet
 Pattern: A, father of B//B, father of C//C, father of D//D
o “Russian school” began with Boris Kudryavtsev
 Identified parallel passages in 4 tablets
• Thomas Barthel, 1950s
o Attempted to assign logographic meanings based on Jaussen/Metoro
o Equated signs with place names
o Sign list to 699, but fewer than 699 total because not all numbers allotted
 Signs with same main element begin with same numeral
• Elements: head and body
• Compound signs = ligatures
• For a numbered system to work, need a transliterated system
• Jacques Guy – French linguist
o Builds on Barthel’s work
o Mamari tablet (also read by Metoro)
 Lunar calendar (as Barthel said); Guy solidifies by comparing with known
names and calling it a “canon” instead
o Other specialists – Fischer, Pozdniakov
• Fischer
o Metoro read as “the man with an erect penis”, so Barthel casually wrote as this:
o [FLAW: why would shark+god=shark]
o But what about tablets that don’t use “penis” sexually?
o He decided that in order to make his theory work, had to explain lack of “penis”;
said dropped as “superfluous” because chanters would know phallus intended
o Flaw: only 63 of 113 sequences fit th eories, and way too many “phallus” signs
floating around that break rules he lays out
o Equating Santiago with “Atua-Mata-Rori” is ludicrous because no evidence they
 are the same kind of corpus, just bc they come from same culture
• Pozdniakov – only printed one paper.
o Based on analysis of 55 signs, says Rongorongo is fundamentally syllabic.
o Element “hand” alternates freely, even sits alone, not pictographically then but
phonetic.
o Compares range of syllables in Metoro’s to range of “elements” from inscriptions
o

Rapanui Language
• “Rapanui” is Tahitian
o Polynesian languages are so close that Captain Cook’s Tahitian translator could
understand Easter Island natives
• Rongorongo signifies language that is close to modern Rapanui language, but what
changes have occurred are unknown

Easter Island Facts

• Originally forested but denuded
• Heyerdahl’s theory of South America as genus of inhabitants is most well-known
o All evidence (archeological, linguistic, ethnological) points to Polynesia, though
 1990 DNA look revealed no SA tie
• In 1860s 94% of Easter Island inhabitants emigrated or died
• Further tablet finding unlikely, rot away in climate

Robinson, A., 2002, "The Phaistos Disk," Lost Languages, 297-315. [18 pp]
Phaistos Disk

Emblem of high Minoan culture.

Might be a forgery (minority opinion), but if not, 3600 years old.
Why it’s (maybe) not a forgery:
• Found by reputable guy close by to Linear A tablet of incontestable authenticity
• Number of scribal corrections (below added), known by weird angle inserted at
o

Disk
• Discovered 1908 by Luis Pernier at Phaistos palace ruins in Crete
• 241-2 characters, 45 signs
 o no allographs or ligatures; low ratio of characters: means not enough text for
decipherment
o probably Syllabary; 45 signs too large for any known alphabet and too small for
logosyllabic
o PROBLEMS: how do we know it’s typical of script as whole? Or specialized –
list not narrative, for example – also, enough representations with only 242?
• Empirical formula for predicting number of signs in script. When applied,
says Syllabary of 56-7 signs predicted. AKA missing 11-12
o Might be “word-final” – read rim to center, not center to rim
• Double sided (A and B), made of clay impressed with punch or stamp and then fired
o Impressed, not incised, into clay – first “typewritten” document ever (predates
China by 2500 yrs, Gutenberg by 3000)
o If it’s meant to be reproduced (why it’s stamped), why no others? And why not in
Greek etc from time? Could be foreign? This would make problematic any
comparison between disk and Crete, Linear A, etc, almost impossible to guess
language
• Fischer compares Linear A and Disk; Evans remarks how bad a job Fischer did
o Only compares 18 of 45 symbols on disk
o Most incompatible; but looked like tombs in Anatolia (not Cretan)
o these kinds of complex signs ignored (below)
o Other signs (06 - bare breasted woman) depicts female dress not Minoan
o Mohican (02) – commonest sign. Evans says Viking plumed cap, Chadwick a
crested helmet. Looks like Cretan object, though.
o Other issues with Fischer:
• He decides a) lang on disk may inflect like Greek (reasonable, but imp to
prove with such small corpus), b) side A may be some
invocation/proclamation (purely intuitive).
• Goes on to compare shapes Linear B and Cypriot with known phonetic
values to disk (glances at hieroglyphs and A as well); probs with this,
above