Did the Easter Island Have a Written Language?

Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, is located in the Pacific Ocean, around 3800 km off the coast of Chile. It was one of the last landmasses humans settled around 1150 and 1280. Initially, it was a lush and forested island thriving with animals and life. However, the arrival of humans led to gradual deforestation. By the time the first Europeans arrived some 440± years later, in 1722, the island was almost entirely devoid of trees. <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/1*Qks-5CmX_XmzHZeA5zkc8w.jpeg" style="height:464px; width:700px" /> Moai statues. Credit<a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-row-of-moai-statues-sitting-on-top-of-a-grass-covered-field-xIy3hzuLG5U?utm_content=creditShareLink&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=unsplash" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank"> Hal Cooks </a>on Unsplash I’ve always been interested in Easter Island because it’s a running joke in our family that it’s ‘our’ island since we are the Osters (Easters). Despite this little joke, I never knew much about the island besides its famous giant moai statues. So, while perusing the archaeological world for recent discoveries, I was immediately drawn to a paper about the Rongorongo script of Rapa Nui. Wanting to learn more, I began reading the relevant papers, and here’s what I learned. <a href="https://medium.com/teatime-history/did-the-easter-island-have-a-written-language-bf73689cc606">Read More</a>