On the left-hand side of the display case, the oldest known tablet is presented next to the cord of finely twisted hair, around 15 m long, which was coiled around it in June 1869 when it was handed over to the Bishop of Tahiti, Mgr Tepano Jaussen, by the inhabitants of Rapa Nui through Father Gaspar Zuhmbohm. In this gesture, the missionaries saw the proof of the little value now accorded to kohau roŋoroŋo that no Rapa Nui inhabitant seemed to be able to read any more, as well as an allegiance to the Catholic Church. They did, however, perceive the value of the cord of human hair - a sacred material throughout Polynesia. They therefore considered this was the actual gift, of which the tablet known to specialists as the “Echancrée” was merely a spool. In Polynesia, however, objects wrapped in sacred materials such as hair and tapa (a material also found on the hair cord) are never neutral. On the contrary, ethnography in the region has recurrently emphasized their importance, in particular their role in mediating the forces specific to the world of the living and the world of the dead and gods, in ritual contexts.

The wood from which the Echancrée is made, of Podocarpus type (Orliac and Orliac, 2008), does not come from Rapa Nui. It could be driftwood. The BRAVHO 14 C Lab at the University of Bologna recently dated it to the late 15th or very early 16th century (Ferrara et al., 2024). These elements (exogenous and ancient material), as well as the fragmentary nature of the tablet, truncated at both ends and notched to accommodate a ligature, or its gift to the highest representative of the Catholic Church on the island shortly after his conversion, also point to an object of great value, like others in Polynesia.

The inscriptions show changes over time, which also contribute to this interpretation. Above all, they help specialists such as Paul Horley (2021) to better understand how such tablets were made, used and reused. One face was carefully polished before being engraved. It features 8 lines of finely incised glyphs. The reverse is rougher and shows only six lines of glyphs, larger and coarser than on the A side. It is likely that two distinct scribes, perhaps reflecting two different periods of use, produced them.

The coarser side also reveals a scribal correction. In the center of the line of pictographs that runs along the smaller of the large sides, one may notice pre-incisions do not correspond to the glyphs finally inscribed there. According to Paul Horley, it is likely that the scribe omitted a passage, which he later reinstated. In any case, they eventually superimposed new pictograms on the pre-incised glyphs. This type of correction is common in certain writing systems. The presence of pre-incisions illustrates the two-stage carving process. First, glyph outlines were quickly traced. These superficial inscriptions were then meticulously incised deeper or replaced by perfectly legible signs.

Paul Horley also highlights a passage in the center of the most carefully incised face, the rhythm of which leads him to believe that it could be a kind of magic formula rather than a chant or recitation - frequent in Polynesian liturgical practices. The sequence of six groups of just a few signs, repeated several times, suggests the articulation of brief, repetitive sounds, which are known to have a strong impact in the region's oral practices.

Carved in European ash (Fraxinus sp.) from an oar, the large tablet known in specialist literature as “Tahua”, after the artist who carved it (Jaussen 1886), and sometimes also called “La Rame” [The Oar], bears witness to the end of kohau roŋoroŋo production. By this time, their meaning had probably already been lost, linked to the dramatic depopulation of the island caused by disease and then deportation to guano quarries in Peru, between the late 18th and mid-19th centuries.

This tablet, which bears few traces of use, is cut in its proximal part, therefore amputating the text (Orliac and Orliac 2008, p. 251-252). Each side comprises 8 lines of signs. According to Paul Horley, the structured sequences found on them, as on that of Aruku Kureŋa, suggest that they encode a rhyming song.

Named “Aruku Kureŋa” after the artist who carved it (Jaussen 1886), this tablet is asymmetrically shaped and contains almost 1,300 glyphs. It is made of mako'i wood (Thespesia populnea) (Orliac and Orliac 2008). Its convex side is glossy and features meticulous inscriptions. On the reverse, the slightly concave surface is uneven. It appears scraped and burned as if to erase an ancient text, later replaced by new glyphs. The convex side features 12 lines of pictograms, carefully delineated by the scribe before he inscribed them. The reverse counts 10 lines, which are less regular.

This intact tablet is also carved from mako'i wood (Thespesia populnea). Like the previous ones, it bears the name of the artist that the missionaries wrote down (Jaussen 1886). It contains around 800 glyphs, spread over 14 lines on each side. It is distinguished by its patina and lustrous appearance, suggesting long lasting ceremonial use (Orliac and Orliac 2008, p. 255-256). According to Paul Horley (2021), it is the only known tablet to feature a lunar calendar.

Snuffbox

This snuffbox might have been carved in a late roŋoroŋo tablet, perhaps for a foreign visitor to the islands or by one of these. The Musée de l'Homme purchased it from the art market in 1962.

The four original tablets now on display belong to the collection of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (SS.CC.) in Rome.

Apart from the Echancrée, which was given to Mgr Tepano Jaussen by Rapanui people in 1869, through the intermediary of Father G. Zuhmbohm, the other three were acquired by Father H. Roussel or Father G. Zuhmbohm in a narrow timeframe, between 1869 and 1870. The missionaries actively sought them out on the island. All of them joined the collection of Mgr T. Jaussen in Tahiti on October 13, 1870, before being sent to the Institut de France in 1887 and then to the Congregation's Mother House in 1888.

At the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, most cultural objects from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) arrived in France through the Franco-Belgian Métraux-Lavachery expedition (1934-1935). This scientific expedition coincided with others similar endeavours, the best-known of which probably is the Dakar-Djibouti expedition (1931-1933). The interdisciplinary team led by Swiss ethnologist Alfred Métraux and Belgian archaeologist Henri Lavachery spent 13 months in Rapa Nui. On their return, the collections joined those of the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro and the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels.

Measuring 164 km2, Rapa Nui is one of the last Polynesian islands to be colonized by humans, between 800 and 1200 AD. Located more than 3,000 km away from the coast of Chile to the east, and more than 2,000 km away Pitcairn to the west, Rapa Nui owes its uniqueness to this relative isolation, as well as to a number of environmental and historical factors that have been widely discussed in specialized literature. It has been a special territory of Chile since 1888. Depending on the disciplinary lense, researchers have described it as a prototype of the impacts of climate change, over-exploiting resources, as well as slavery, and violent colonial practices in the region. From a cultural point of view, however, Rapa Nui remains fundamentally Polynesian. The language spoken, the famous statues erected along the shores, the relationship with birds demonstrated by certain seasonal rituals, and the social hierarchy described by the first Europeans to visit the island, all explicitly echo what can be observed elsewhere, including in what is now French Polynesia.

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