Treasures of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Exceptional loans

Content

Discover cultural treasures from Rapa Nui (Easter Island), including four roŋoroŋo tablets on loan from the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, covered in glyphs that have yet to be deciphered, on the museum's collection platter, placed alongside other pieces from the island as part of the museum's focus on intangible cultural heritage.

roŋoroŋo tablets

Writing, memory and orality

In Oceania, there is only one system of notation that is akin to writing. These so-called roŋoroŋo inscriptions are, alongside the great stone moai and wooden works that so seduced the Surrealists, part of the cultural treasures of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island. Since the late 19th century, linguists, anthropologists and other scholars have been studying the glyphs or pictograms that cover rare wooden tablets called kohau roŋoroŋo. There are only around twenty preserved in the world. To this day, no one knows how to read them.

Until June 2025, the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac is benefiting from an exceptional loan from the Rome-based Congregazione dei Sacri Cuori di Gesu e di Maria (Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary Congregation) of four of these roŋoroŋo tablets and the finely twisted hair cord that once surrounded the oldest of them. Visitors can now discover them in the showcase dedicated to Rapa Nui, at the heart of the Polynesian section of the collections tray. Here, the kohau roŋoroŋo interact with glyph-bearing works from the museum's collection. Placed side by side, these objects explore Rapa Nui's mnemonic practices and ritual enunciation systems, as part of the museum's focus on intangible cultural heritage. They also provide access to the latest research on these artifacts.

The new display case

Vue d'ensemble de la vitrine présentant des trésors culturels de Rapa Nui (île de Pâques)

© musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Julien Brachhammer

lines of as yet undeciphered glyphs

The kohau roŋoroŋo tablets are covered with glyphs, which form the remains of a notation system unique to Oceania and as yet undeciphered. Experts tell us that they were read in inverted boustrophedon - like the continuous furrows traced by an ox plowing a field. Each line was read from left to right. Then, to switch from one to the other, the tablet had to be turned 180°. The rhythm of these manipulations, the similarity of certain glyphs to those found on sacred objects or sites, and the lost meaning of these motifs suggest that these tablets were once in the hands of ritual experts. These mā'ori roŋoroŋo preserved the memory of their interpretation. They would have recorded the moon cycle, historical events, legends and chieftain genealogies, as well as magical or liturgical formulas.

Detailed description

The four original kohau roŋoroŋo and hair cord presented on the collection tray were acquired in the late 1860s in Rapa Nui by missionaries of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary (Congregazione dei Sacri Cuori di Gesu e di Maria). Usually kept in Rome by the Congregation, they are rarely displayed to the public. See 3D models of the tablets

On the left-hand side of the display case, the oldest known tablet is shown next to the cord of finely twisted hair, around 15 m long, which surrounded 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. The missionaries see in this gesture, in addition to allegiance to the Catholic Church, proof of the little value now accorded to the kohau roŋoroŋo that no Rapa Nui inhabitant seems to be able to read any more. They do, however, perceive the value of the hair cord, a sacred material throughout Polynesia. They deduce that this is the true gift, of which the tablet known to specialists as the “Echancrée” is merely the support. In Polynesia, however, objects wrapped in sacred materials such as hair and tapa (a material also found on the cord) are never neutral. On the contrary, the ethnography of the region recurrently emphasizes their importance, in particular their role in mediating the forces specific to the world of the living and that of the dead and the gods in ritual contexts.

The wood from which the Echancrée is fashioned, 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 found in Polynesia.

The changes over time revealed by the inscriptions also contribute to this interpretation. Above all, they help specialists such as Paul Horley (2021) to better understand how these tablets were made, used and reused when they were still in use. The scalloped face was carefully polished before engraving. It features 8 lines of finely incised glyphs. The rougher reverse has 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 an indentation. In the center of the line of pictographs that runs along the smaller of the large sides, there are pre-incisions that do not correspond to the glyphs finally inscribed there. It seems, according to Paul Horley, that the scribe omitted a passage, which he later reinstated. In any case, he 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 engraving process followed by Rapa Nui scribes. 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, which are 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.

L’Echancrée

Carved from a European ash (Fraxinus sp.) rowboat oar, the large tablet known in specialist literature as “Tahua”, after the artist who carved it (Jaussen 1886), and sometimes also called “La Rame”, bears witness to the end of kohau roŋoroŋo production. By this time, their meaning had probably already been lost, notably as a result of 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, has been cut in its proximal part, amputating the text (Orliac and Orliac 2008, p. 251-252). Each side has 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.

Some of the glyphs on “La Rame” also refer explicitly to the petroglyphs found on Rapa Nui. These similarities point to a kinship between the two inscription systems, in wood and stone.

 

Tahua or La Rame

Named “Aruku Kureŋa” after the artist who inscribed it (Jaussen 1886), this tablet is asymmetrical in overall shape and contains almost 1,300 glyphs. It is made of mako'i wood (Thespesia populnea) (Orliac and Orliac 2008). Its convex face is glossy and features particularly meticulous inscriptions. On the reverse, the slightly concave surface is more uneven. It appears to have been scraped and burned to erase an ancient text, which was then replaced by new glyphs. The convex A side features 12 lines of pictograms, carefully delineated by the scribe before they were inscribed. Side B has 10 more random lines.

 

Aruku Kureŋa

This intact tablet is also carved from mako'i wood (Thespesia populnea). Like its predecessors, it bears the name of the artist whom the missionaries surveyed (Jaussen 1886). It contains around 800 glyphs, spread over 14 lines on each side. It is distinguished by its patina of use and lustrous appearance, suggesting prolonged 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.

Mamari

Works on display

  •     The four roŋoroŋo tablets are presented and exhibited alongside other pieces from the Rapa Nui Museum collections:

Rapa

This anthropomorphic dancing stick made from Sophora toromiro, a highly prized wood in Rapa Nui, is a recent acquisition for the museum. A major work hitherto missing from French public collections, it is distinguished from other rapa by the bird engraved under one of its eyebrow arches. This is close to certain roŋoroŋo signs and petroglyphs also found on Rapa Nui.

This work is also a reminder of the complex trajectories sometimes followed by Oceanic objects after their arrival in Europe. It, too, once belonged to the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary. It was sold by the latter around 1930 to physician and collector Stephen Chauvet (1885 - 1950), author of the book L'Île de Pâques et ses mystères, published in 1935. After the Chauvet collection, which included a number of Rapanui objects from missionary acquisitions on the island, the rapa included the collection of Parisian gallery owner Charles Ratton (1895 - 1986). It will remain in private hands until its arrival at the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac at the end of 2018.

To find out more

Rapa (dance stick)

Moai kavakava

This Sophora toromiro wood sculpture, whose eyes are inlaid with bone-encrusted obsidian, belongs to the moai kavakava type linked to the spirits of the dead. The anthropomorphic glyph at the top of the skull raises questions about the links that once existed between different ritual practices on Rapa Nui.

It was once in the collection of Prince Roland Bonaparte (1858 - 1924).

Moai kavakava

Snuffbox

This snuffbox appears to be carved from a late roŋoroŋo tablet. It may have been made for a Western visitor to the islands or by one of these travelers. It entered French public collections thanks to a purchase by the Musée de l'Homme in 1962.

Snuffbox

Cast

This painted plaster cast illustrates twentieth-century research into the roŋoroŋo notation system. This led to the production of numerous facsimiles. Mouldings and graphic transcriptions give researchers easier access to objects and glyphs. The original of this tablet is kept at the British Museum in London.
It was purchased from the British Museum in 1933. Former Musée de l'Homme collection.

The Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac holds several facsimiles of this type, including plaster copies of the kohau roŋoroŋo preserved by the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary in Rome. Their appearance varies according to the treatment of the plaster, painted or left rough, for example.

  • Illustrations: 71.1933.27.4.1 and 71.1933.27.4.2

Cast

History of collections

The four original tablets 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 by the Rapanui to Mgr Tepano Jaussen in 1869, through the intermediary of Father G. Zuhmbohm, the other three were acquired by Father H. Roussel or Father G. Zuhmbohm in a very short space of time, between 1869 and 1870. The missionaries actively sought them out among the island's inhabitants. They joined the collection of Mgr T. Jaussen in Tahiti on October 13, 1870, were sent to the Institut de France in 1887 and joined the Congregation's Mother House in 1888.

At the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, most of the collections originating from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) come from the Franco-Belgian Métraux-Lavachery mission (1934-1935). This mission, which took place during the same period of scientific research as others, the best-known of which was undoubtedly the Dakar-Djibouti mission (1931-1933), focused on Rapa Nui, where an interdisciplinary team led by Swiss ethnologist Alfred Métraux and Belgian archaeologist Henri Lavachery spent 13 months. On their return, the collections joined those of the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro and the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels.

about tablets

A volcanic island measuring 164 km2, Rapa Nui was one of the last Polynesian islands to be populated, between 800 and 1200 AD. Located more than 3,000 km west of the coast of Chile, to which it has belonged since 1888, and more than 2,000 km east of Pitcairn, the Polynesian island to which it is geographically closest, 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. Depending on the discipline, researchers have described it as a model of the effects of climate disruption, over-exploitation of resources or the violence of colonial and slave-owning practices in the region. From a cultural point of view, however, Rapa Nui remains fundamentally Polynesian. The language spoken here, the famous statues erected on its shores, the relationship with birds demonstrated by certain seasonal rituals, and the social hierarchy described by the first Europeans to visit, all explicitly echo what can be observed elsewhere, including in what is now French Polynesia.

About Rapa Nui (Easter Island)

Key dates

  • 800 - 1200 AD: arrival of the first Polynesian traveller
  • 1722 - Jakob Roggeveen, navigator for the Dutch West India Company, lands on the island on Easter Sunday and names it Paasch-Eyland (Easter Island)
  • 1859 - 1863: at a time when depopulation of the island was already considerable, following previous contact with Europeans, raids by slave traders from Callao in Peru led to the deportation of around 1,500 Rapa Nui inhabitants to the guano quarries of the Chincha Islands, and caused a fracture in the transmission of cultural knowledge.
  • 1864 - installation of the first sedentary Catholic mission on the island.
  • 1888 - annexation by Chile

BibliographY

  • Ferrara, S., Tassoni, L., Kromer, B. et al., 2024, The invention of writing on Rapa Nui (Easter Island). New radiocarbon dates on the Rongorongo script. Sci Rep 14, 2794. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53063-7
  • Horley, Paul, 2021, Rongorongo: Inscribed Objects from Rapa Nui. Rapanui Press.
  • Jaussen, Tepano (Mgr), 1886, L’île de Pâques ou Rapa Nui, histoire et écriture. Manuscrit conservé par la congrégation des Sacrés Cœurs de Jésus et Marie à Rome.
  • Laurière, Christine, 2014, L’Odyssée pascuane. Mission Métraux-Lavachery, île de Pâques (1934-1935), Paris, Lahic-Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication.
  • Orliac, Catherine & Orliac, Michel, 2008. Trésors de l’île de Pâques/Treasures of Easter Island. Éditions Louise Leiris/Éditions D.
  • Orliac, Catherine, 2005, The "Rongorongo" tablets from Easter Island: botanical identification and 14C dating. Archaeology in Oceania 40 (3), pp. 115-119.

 

Key dates and bibliography