There are few writing systems known that started completely from scratch, but researchers now believe a script known as "rongorongo" from Rapu Nui—also known as Easter Island—could be one of them. For some background, there are 400 known rongorongo glyphs, which have never been deciphered, according to Live Science. These pictorial glyphs can be found on just 27 wooden objects today (none of which remain on the island), and per Atlas Obscura, are arranged in horizontal, sentence-like lines, with every other line turned upside down (a style called reverse boustrophedon). A new study in Scientific Reports that examined fragments of four of the remaining rongorongo tablets through radiocarbon dating found that one of the wooden slabs predated European contact on the island, located 2,400 miles off the coast of Chile.
The tests revealed that three tablets came from trees cut down in the 18th and 19th centuries, but the older wood is estimated to come from a tree felled sometime between 1493 and 1509, roughly 200 years before Europeans arrived. This discovery may upend assumptions that Europeans influenced written communication there. Also contributing to the theory is the rongorongo glyphs' distinct style, which does not resemble European lettering. "Historically speaking, if you borrow a writing system, then you keep it as close to the original as possible," says Silvia Ferrara, the paper's lead author. One complicating factor: the older slab from the island was most likely made from driftwood, with origins in southern Africa. When the wood was carved still remains a question mark.
Europeans first noted the written language in 1864, notes Atlas Obscura, when a missionary described hundreds of "intricately inscribed" wooden tablets seen in nearly every home. When Europeans returned several years later, they seemed to have disappeared, with very few remaining. The tablets tested had been preserved by nuns based in Rome for the past 150 years. If the rongorongo script is indeed original, it's a big deal. "I actually believe that rongorongo is one of the very few independent inventions of writing in human history, like the writing of the Sumerians, the Egyptians and the Chinese," says chemist Rafal Wieczorek. "But belief is a different thing than hard data … so ideally, we would like to test all the tablets." (A receding lake on the island revealed a centuries-old statue.)
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