The Raŋitoki fragment (Ragitoki, Rangitoki) is a possibly authentic member of the

rongorongo Rongorongo (Rapa Nui: ) is a system of glyphs discovered in the 19th century on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) that appears to be writing or proto-writing. Numerous attempts at decipherment have been made, with none being successful. Although some c ...

corpus.

Location

This fragment is kept in an undisclosed institution.

Description

Red ink on undyed (or at least faded)

barkcloth Barkcloth or bark cloth is a versatile material that was once common in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. Barkcloth comes primarily from trees of the family Moraceae, including ''Broussonetia papyrifera'', '' Artocarpus altilis'', ''Artocarpus t ...

, 4.5 × 15.5 cm. The nine glyphs were apparently painted on the cloth with some kind of brush. The piece is reportedly a strip torn from a skirt/loincloth. Bark-cloth cloaks and headpieces were indications of high status in the pre-missionary period. Inks used on bark cloth – made from roots, berries and minerals – were apparently rather sophisticated. The cloth was made from the

paper mulberry The paper mulberry (''Broussonetia papyrifera'', syn. ''Morus papyrifera'' L.) is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae. It is native to Asia,Albrecht van Houten in March 1869. Van Houten had observed that Rapa Nui women wore loincloths adorned with "symbols". Van Houten rolled the fragment into a "scroll", tied it with a piece of twine, and placed it in a pocket- watch case along with a pair of skull-bone beads and a note that has been read, :''Ein Stück von dem Rock meiner geliebten wunderschöner Rangitoki. An mich als Geschenk überreicht – März, 1869 –'' :(A piece from the skirt of my beloved precious Rangitoki. Given to me as a present – March, 1869 –) (The word here deciphered as ''überreicht'' 'offered/given' is unclear.) The watchcase was handed down in Van Houten's family in Switzerland until it was put up for auction in 2018. Only when it was evaluated were the symbols on the cloth identified as rongorongo.

Text

The identification of the nine glyphs is not entirely secure. An argument for the authenticity of the text is that the glyphs do not appear to be copies from known texts. The glyphs, from left to right, have been tentatively identified as,Schoch & Melka (2020: 28 ff) :50 95h 'hoch'' 'raised'600 46.76 700 V76 26V 200 95x : RR 600

References

*Robert Schoch & Tomi Melka (2019) The ''Raŋitoki'' (Rangitoki) bark-cloth piece: A newly recognized ''Rongorongo'' fragment from Easter Island. ''Asian and African Studies'' 28:2. *———— (2020) The ''Raŋitoki'' (Rangitoki) Fragment: Further analysis of a short ''Rongorongo'' sequence on bark-cloth from Easter Island. ''Asian and African Studies'' 29:1. {{Rongorongo Rongorongo inscriptions