Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, sits 2,360 miles off the coast of Chile, which annexed it in 1888. It’s one of the most remote places on the planet. Its indigenous inhabitants, also known as the Rapa Nui, arrived on the island between 1150 and 1280 AD and lived there in isolation until Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen showed up in 1722.

The Europeans discovered the iconic moai statues the world has come to know, but also an entirely unknown writing system: Rongorongo — a three-dimensional script using pictographic symbols called glyphs.

This writing system was first described in 1864, leading archaeologists and historians to ask: did the Rapa Nui develop Rongorongo on their own, or were they influenced by Europeans?

A recent study takes a shot at answering this linguistic mystery. According to researchers, one of 27 wooden objects bearing Rongorongo inscriptions, examined using radiocarbon dating, has been dated to between 1493 and 1509, meaning it predates European contact with Easter Island. The finding supports the theory that the Rapa Nui may have independently developed their own writing system, a rare achievement in human history typically associated with large, complex state-level societies.

Signs of an Indigenous Writing System

Another strong piece of evidence backing this theory is that Rongorongo works in a completely different way from European languages, suggesting no outside influence.

The lead researcher, archaeologist and linguist Silvia Ferrara from the University of Bologna in Italy, published her team’s findings in the journal Scientific Reports in 2024.

As the study notes: “The issue is of critical importance, as it suggests the possibility of an independent invention of writing, as happened in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica. If Rongorongo predates outside contact, it could be the last independent invention of writing in human history.”

Limitations and Next Steps

While one of the four wooden tablets examined shows pre-European origins, the discovery comes with caveats. Radiocarbon dating can only tell when the wood was cut, not when the inscriptions were carved. That said, Ferrara argues it would be unlikely that such old wood would have been used for this purpose.

The sample remains limited, as the other tablets examined appear to date to the post-European period. To get a clearer picture, Ferrara will need to study the remaining surviving tablets, but these are scattered across museums around the world and are difficult to access.

For now, the research continues, with the goal of giving the indigenous people of Rapa Nui the place they deserve in the history of human writing.