Rongorongo text O
Text O of the rongorongo corpus, the Berlin tablet, is one of two dozen surviving rongorongo texts. Other names O is the standard designation, from Barthel (1958). Fischer (1997) refers to it as RR22. It is also known as the Boomerang because of its bent shape. Location Museum für Völkerkunde, Berlin. Catalog # VI 4878 (Inventory # I 3/83). Description A fluted piece of gnarled driftwood, 103 × 12.5/10 × 5.2 cm, this is the most massive rongorongo artifact to survive, as well as the most fragile. It was heavily weathered before inscription, and later it was burnt in five places and lay on side b in damp soil, probably in a cave. Fischer (1997) reports that bits flake off upon handling, and in parts even the fluting is no longer distinguishable. Fischer (1997) believes that it was once a 'marvelous' piece, a fluted version of the Santiago Staff. Provenance In 1882 an archaeological expedition aboard the SMS Hyäne visited Easter Island, and captain Wilhelm Geiseler purchased two tablets. The purchase had been arranged by Schlubach, the German consul in Valparaíso, at the request of Adolf Bastian, the director of the Königliches Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin. The tablets were