The Other Mystery of Easter Island[Language of Rongorongo]

Dam Interesting ^ | 26 Dec 2006 | Stephanie Benson

[Alouette]

What about that manuscript (in Austria) that no one has been able to translate? The one with all the weird plants and unclothed maidens in the margins.

[Fred Nerks]

http://www.voynich.nu/extra/aes.html

Is this the one you mean?

[timer]

He also showed how the noah flood story was a jazzed up myth about a true incident : surviving a hurricane by being washed out to sea on a raft.

[blam]

"Jared Diamond wrote a piece on what actually happened on Easter Island and what the stone figures meant."

Nah. Jared wrote what he thought happened.

[Question_Assumptions]

From what I understand, there are other newer interpretations that dispute what Jared Diamond and others have speculated. In particular, there was an article posted her recently that suggests that rats, not people, were responsible for the loss of trees on the island.

[billbears]

I'm quite sure many of our ancestors would be considered 'primitive' at some point. It's amazing enough their understanding of shipbuilding and navigation. They had to get there somehow. Perhaps an understanding of the language could explain how they got there and what the purpose was for the statues.

[Antoninus]

As with the destruction of Mayan/Aztec texts, the arrogance of received religion claimed another victim.

Oh please. Philology owes an enormous debt to the Christian "received" religion. Without Irish monks, Greek monks, and Italian bishops, we would have only a tiny fraction of the ancient literature that has come down to us.

And what, pray tell, is the track-record of "atheist" philology, anyway?

[Antoninus]

yup. thought the same thing. religious zealots suck.

Yeah, as if it's a given function of religion to destroy everything that disagrees with it. I guess the great atheist scholars of history have *never* been guilty of such abomination.

[Antoninus]

"The Dutch Admiral Roggeveen, onboard the Arena, was the first European to visit the island on Easter Sunday 1722. He found a society in a primitive state with about 3,000 people living in squalid reed huts or caves, engaged in almost perpetual warfare and resorting to cannibalism in a desperate attempt to supplement the meagre food supplies available on the island."

Sure sounds like paradise to me.

[William Terrell]

The symbols seem to suggest bogie, bogie, party, party, dance the night away.

[albee]

" ...no linguist or archaeologist has been able to successfully decipher the Rongorongo language."

"Rongo Rongo Rongo I don't want to leave the Congo oh no no no no!

Bingo Bango Bungle I'm so happy in the jungle I refuse to go!

Don't want no TV's, Buses, Autos...I'll make it clear

As for civilization...I'll stay right here!

[gcruse]

" I guess the great atheist scholars of history have *never* been guilty of such abomination."

PeeWee Herman loves the 'I know what I am, what are you?' style of religious apologetics, too.

[ApplegateRanch]

Lord Greystoke, I presume?

[Malacoda]

Nah -- he speaks Ronery-ronery.

[ZULU]

Well, the arrogance of misguided fanatics anyway.

[Lazamataz]

Is this so RongoRongo?

[bmwcyle]

Gee I wish we were all like Mayan's. Pass the knife, I can do this heart in 4 seconds. /sarcasm

[gcruse]

"Gee I wish we were all like Mayan's. Pass the knife, I can do this heart in 4 seconds. /sarcasm"

Yes, the Inquisition was a model of persuasion.

[bmwcyle]

Libertarians the liberal meat.

[dsc]

"Yes, the Inquisition was a model of persuasion."

Tell me, how many people were executed by the Inquisition?