Text L of the rongorongo

Rongorongo

Rongorongo is a system of glyphs discovered in the 19th century on Easter Island that appears to be writing or proto-writing. It cannot be read despite numerous attempts at decipherment. Although some calendrical and what might prove to be genealogical information has been identified, not even...

corpus, also known as (London) reimiro 2, is the smaller of two inscribed reimiro

Reimiro

A reimiro is a decorative crescent-shaped pectoral ornament once worn by the women of Easter Island. The name comes from the Rapanui rei 'stern' or 'prow' and miro 'boat'. Thus the crescent represents a Polynesian canoe....

in London and one of two dozen surviving rongorongo texts.

Other names

L is the standard designation, from Barthel

Thomas Barthel

Thomas Sylvester Barthel was a German ethnologist and epigrapher who is best known for cataloguing the undeciphered rongorongo script of Easter Island....

 (1958). Fischer (1997) refers to it as RR21.

Location

British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

, London. Catalog # AOA 9295.

Physical description

A prototypical two-headed Rapanui reimiro

Reimiro

A reimiro is a decorative crescent-shaped pectoral ornament once worn by the women of Easter Island. The name comes from the Rapanui rei 'stern' or 'prow' and miro 'boat'. Thus the crescent represents a Polynesian canoe....

, or ceremonial crescent-shaped gorget

Gorget

A gorget originally was a steel or leather collar designed to protect the throat. It was a feature of older types of armour and intended to protect against swords and other non-projectile weapons...

/epaulet, in excellent condition, 41.2 × 10.5 cm, made Pacific rosewood (Orliac 2005). The two holes top center were used to hang it from clothing.

A line of glyphs has been cut along the length of the bottom edge on the front.

Fischer reports from her notes that Katherine Routledge

Katherine Routledge

Katherine Maria Routledge, née Pease was a British archaeologist who initiated the first true survey of Easter Island....

 showed a photo of this object to two Rapanui elders in July 1914. They said it was a woman's rei miro, worn five to a side.

Provenance

Reimiro 2 was sold by Reverend William Sparrow Simpson, a collector who had never been to Easter Island, to the trustees of Christy Collection in January 1875. The trustees transferred it along with the rest of the Christy ethnological collection to the British Museum

British Museum

The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...

 in 1883.

It is not known where Simpson acquired the object, but its history may be similar to that of rei miro 1

Rongorongo text J

Text J of the rongorongo corpus, also known as reimiro 1, is the larger of two inscribed reimiro in London and one of two dozen surviving rongorongo texts.-Other names:J is the standard designation, from Barthel...

.

Inscribed reimiro were evidently rare: An elder told Routledge that he had never seen a reimiro with glyphs.

Despite its poor provenance, there are no doubts as to its authenticity.

Text

There is one line of about 50 glyphs, ending in half a dozen komari (vulvas). Fischer makes the enigmatic comment "Any evidence in natural light of seemingly 'effaced' glyphs (palimpsests) disappears in artificial light."

Barthel
Fischer