ISSN: 2534-5192 (electronic) – 2681-8566 (print)

ISBN: 978-2-487055-06-3 e-ISBN: 978-2-487055-07-0 Download (NOT THERE YET)

Qualitative and Quantitative Validation of Rongorongo Glyph Strings on Easter Island Artefacts Gordon Berthin  Download (4.72 MB) Abstract. Six rongorongo artefacts were evaluated for authenticity including the San Diego Tablet (SDT), the Rangitoki Bark-cloth Fragment (RBF), the Madrid (Îka) Fish Sculpture (MFI), and the 1770 Treaty Document (CST) between the Spanish and Rapanui people. Two apparently modern productions were also examined to determine if their RR-like inscriptions reproduced authentic but otherwise unknown texts. Metrics of evaluation were provenance and production technique, ‘handwriting’ quality, glyph vocabulary, conformity to Zipf’s law (character frequency analysis), internal verse pattern, and item-specific special features. It was found that provenance/production technique and verse pattern were the most reliable predictors of authenticity. A suspected imitation piece conformed more closely to Zipfs Law than deemed-authentic artefacts. The SDT, RBF and, final two rows of the CST exhibited good evidence of authenticity and should be evaluated further. The possibility of evolved glyph definitions upon the MFI (a ta’u rongorongo object) may limit its usefulness somewhat in decipherment of rongorongo. DOI: https://doi.org/10.36824/2022-graf-bert How to cite How to cite in BIB Gordon Berthin (2022), “Qualitative and Quantitative Validation of Rongorongo Glyph Strings on Easter Island Artefacts,” in Proceedings of Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century, 2022 (Yannis Haralambous, Ed.), Grapholinguistics and Its Applications, Vol. 10, Brest: Fluxus Editions, 471–500. @INPROCEEDINGS{gla10-bert, AUTHOR = {Gordon Berthin}, EDITOR = {Haralambous, Yannis}, TITLE = {{Qualitative and Quantitative Validation of \‍emph{Rongorongo} Glyph Strings on Easter Island Artefacts}}, BOOKTITLE = {{Proceedings of Grapholinguistics in the 21st Century, 2022}}, SERIES = {{Grapholinguistics and Its Applications}}, VOLUME = {10}, PUBLISHER = {Fluxus Editions}, ADDRESS = {Brest}, YEAR = {2022}, PAGES = {471--500}, DOI = {https://doi.org/10.36824/2022-graf-bert}, }