Radiocarbon Dating Suggests Independent Origin for Rapa Nui's Rongorongo Script
A recent study utilizing radiocarbon dating on four Rongorongo tablets from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) suggests that one of these tablets predates European arrival in the 1720s. The dating places the felling of the wood for this particular tablet between 1493 and 1509. This finding challenges the long-standing debate among archaeologists and historians regarding whether the Rongorongo writing system was an independent invention by the Rapa Nui people or influenced by European contact. The Rongorongo script is a unique three-dimensional writing system composed of pictorial signs known as glyphs. While the script was not formally described until 1864, its potential pre-European origin would make it a rare instance of independent writing system development, a feat typically associated with complex states like those in Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, and Mesoamerica. Lead author Silvia Ferarra, an archaeologist and linguist, notes that the script's functional differences from European languages also support the homeg... 
