1315: "The Rongorongo Script"
Interesting Things with JC #1315: "The Rongorongo Script" – When the last person who could read it died, an entire symbolic language was silenced. But the tablets still speak, if only we could understand them.
Curriculum - Episode Anchor
Episode Title: The Rongorongo Script
Episode Number: #1315
Host: JC
Audience: Grades 9–12, college intro, homeschool, lifelong learners
Subject Area: History, Anthropology, Linguistics
Lesson Overview
Students will:
Define the term “Rongorongo” and explain its cultural significance to Rapa Nui.
Compare Rongorongo with other early writing systems in terms of origin, structure, and decipherability.
Analyze the factors that contributed to the disappearance of the Rongorongo script.
Explain the role of writing systems in preserving collective memory and cultural identity.
Key Vocabulary
Rongorongo (RONG-go RONG-go) — A lost symbolic script from Easter Island, meaning “to recite” or “to chant out.”
Reverse boustrophedon — A unique style of writing where text alternates direction with each line, like an ox plowing a field.
Glyph — A carved or inscribed symbol representing ideas, sounds, or words in a writing system.
Mnemonic device — A memory aid, often using symbols or patterns to help recall information.
Toromiro (toh-roh-MEE-roh) — A type of tree native to Easter Island, used in the carving of Rongorongo tablets.
Narrative Core (Based on the PSF – use renamed labels)
Open — A reflection on the disappearance of civilizations and their languages sets a mysterious tone.
Info — Introduction of Rapa Nui, the discovery of the Rongorongo tablets, and their physical characteristics.
Details — Historical context, efforts at decipherment, and the failure to decode the script due to missing bilingual texts.
Reflection — Emphasizes the cultural loss when a writing system disappears and how it affects memory and identity.
Closing — "These are interesting things, with JC."
Transcript
It’s one thing for a civilization to disappear. It’s another for its words to vanish with it.
In the 19th century, Catholic missionaries arrived on a speck of volcanic land in the South Pacific known as Rapa Nui—better known to the West as Easter Island. Alongside the iconic moai statues, they found wooden tablets covered in an unfamiliar script. Carved with obsidian or shark teeth, the glyphs flowed in lines like waves, switching direction at the end of each—what scholars would later call “reverse boustrophedon.”
The locals called it Rongorongo (rongo-rongo, pronounced RONG-go RONG-go), meaning “to recite” or “to chant out.” But by then, nobody on the island could read it.
Rongorongo may be one of only a handful of writing systems in human history independently created without outside influence. The island is more than 2,000 miles (3,219 kilometers) from the nearest inhabited land, and yet this small, isolated community had developed its own symbolic language etched into driftwood and toromiro trees.
Roughly two dozen authentic Rongorongo tablets are known to exist today. As of this recording, just 26 are verified by scholars, most held in European and American museums. These include the Smithsonian in Washington, the Musée de l’Homme in Paris (moo-ZAY duh LOM), and the Ethnological Museum in Berlin. Many others were lost, burned, or disintegrated after colonial seizure.
Most of the surviving tablets are only a few feet long—typically 20 to 30 inches (50 to 75 centimeters)—and covered in rows of abstract figures. Some resemble humans or birds. Others appear geometric or animalistic. Each glyph, once carved, was read aloud, passed down, sung in ritual. But by the time Western scholars began their analysis in the late 1800s, the chain of transmission had already broken.
And the debate over what, exactly, Rongorongo represents has raged ever since. German linguist Thomas Barthel spent decades trying to catalog the glyphs in the mid-20th century, while later scholars like Jacques Guy proposed that it may not be a full writing system, but rather a mnemonic device—symbols to cue oral memory, not express full grammar. The absence of a known bilingual text—no Easter Island Rosetta Stone—makes translation guesswork at best. As of now, not a single sentence has been definitively read.
Still, the script refuses to yield. In more than 150 years of study, no key has unlocked its language.
It remains a locked voice from a silenced people.
That silence matters. Because when a writing system vanishes, it's not just the words that go—it’s how a people thought, what they feared, who they worshipped, and how they understood the world. It’s their memory.
And that’s why Rongorongo still matters. Not because we can read it, but because we can’t. It reminds us how fragile human memory is, especially when carried in forms that cannot shout over steel and empire.
Somewhere in that glyphic silence is the echo of chants once known by heart. Not just art. Not just code. But meaning, lost to time.
These are interesting things, with JC.
Student Worksheet
What does the word "Rongorongo" mean, and why is that significant?
Describe how the Rongorongo script was carved and presented on the tablets.
Why has Rongorongo never been definitively deciphered?
Compare Rongorongo with another ancient writing system (e.g., Egyptian hieroglyphs, Sumerian cuneiform).
What broader message does the episode convey about lost languages?
Teacher Guide
Estimated Time: 1–2 class periods
Pre-Teaching Vocabulary Strategy: Use visual examples of glyphs, define "mnemonic device," and map location of Rapa Nui.
Anticipated Misconceptions: Students may assume Rongorongo was recently used or that all writing systems can be deciphered.
Discussion Prompts:
What do we lose when a language or writing system disappears?
Should efforts be made to preserve undeciphered scripts?
Differentiation Strategies:
ESL: Use graphic organizers and paired visual aids.
IEP: Break transcript into smaller sections; scaffold vocabulary.
Gifted: Investigate another undeciphered writing system or symbolic language.
Extension Activities:
Research the Moai statues and their cultural significance.
Create a coded writing system inspired by Rongorongo.
Cross-Curricular Connections:
History: Colonization and cultural erasure.
Linguistics: Symbolic vs. phonetic language systems.
Art: Carving and visual symbolism.
Quiz
Q1. What is the meaning of "Rongorongo"?
A. Driftwood carvings
B. Chant or recitation
C. Sacred symbols
D. Rapa Nui statues
Answer: B
Q2. What tool was likely used to carve Rongorongo glyphs?
A. Iron chisel
B. Bronze needle
C. Obsidian or shark teeth
D. Bamboo stick
Answer: C
Q3. Why is reverse boustrophedon significant?
A. It shows Western influence
B. It mimics oral chants
C. It indicates poetic rhythm
D. It alters line direction in writing
Answer: D
Q4. Why is it difficult to translate Rongorongo?
A. There are too many tablets
B. A bilingual reference text is missing
C. Locals destroyed all records
D. It was not meant to be read
Answer: B
Q5. Where are most Rongorongo tablets held today?
A. Rapa Nui archives
B. Global universities
C. European and American museums
D. Polynesian temples
Answer: C
Assessment
Explain how Rongorongo's isolation influenced its development as a writing system.
Reflect on the significance of preserving undeciphered scripts in the context of global history.
3–2–1 Rubric
3 = Accurate, complete, thoughtful
2 = Partial or missing detail
1 = Inaccurate or vague
Standards Alignment
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.2 — Determine a central idea and analyze its development.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.4 — Interpret meanings of words and phrases in historical texts.
C3.D2.His.14.9-12 — Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects in history.
ISTE 1.3.KC — Students curate information using digital tools to construct knowledge.
UK AQA GCSE History — Develop and apply understanding of key historical concepts.
IB MYP Individuals & Societies Criterion B — Investigating and analyzing sources, systems, and perspectives.
Show Notes
This episode of Interesting Things with JC explores the lost script of Rongorongo from Rapa Nui (Easter Island), one of the few known writing systems possibly created independently by an isolated culture. The podcast recounts its 19th-century discovery by Catholic missionaries, the mysterious glyphic carvings arranged in reverse boustrophedon style, and the frustratingly silent tablets that remain undeciphered to this day. Through vivid storytelling and factual grounding, JC introduces listeners to the cultural, historical, and linguistic significance of a script whose meanings have faded but whose importance has not. The episode prompts learners to consider how societies preserve—or lose—their collective memory and what the loss of a writing system implies for understanding human history.
This episode is relevant in classrooms exploring topics like ancient civilizations, linguistics, cultural anthropology, and the consequences of colonization on indigenous knowledge systems. It encourages critical thinking about the fragility of cultural heritage and the ethical importance of preserving the world's linguistic diversity.
References
Smithsonian Magazine (2024)
“Did the People of Easter Island Invent a Writing System From Scratch?” — Details recent radiocarbon analysis suggesting pre-contact origins of at least one tablet.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/research-reveals-the-natives-of-easter-island-invented-a-written-language-from-scratch-180983793/YouTube: History with Hilbert
“This Easter Island Script is STILL UNDECIPHERED...” — Visual and historical explanation of the glyphs and the barriers to translation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7WjJrNFnlk
