Some Considerations about the<i>Kohau Rongorongo</i>Script in the Light of a Statistical Analysis of the ‘Santiago Staff’

Abstract

Abstract This paper deals with the distributional analysis of a recurring pattern on the Easter Island artifact known as the ‘Santiago Staff’ (‘SS’ from now on). It has been claimed that the pattern known as “XıYZ,” arguably to be found in a repetitive fashion in a “recital of pairings,” conveys a model of procreation in line with the Old Rapanui sacral chants, thus giving a clue to a possible decipherment of the SS's document. According to Steven R. Fischer, the scholar who retrieved the pattern in question, the formula “XıYZ” consists of, “X”: the “copulator” God, “ı”: the superlinear corresponding to the old Rapanui phrase “copulated with,” “Y”: the “copulatee” Goddess and finally, “Z”: the issue of their “copulation.” Under this assumption, and bearing in mind that Fischer did not offer any sort of count with regard to his claim, the structure “XıYZ” has been tested and replicated to “Atua-Mata-Riri,” viewed by some researchers to be a bilingual for the understanding of the alleged schematized pattern. The evidence encountered so far supports the view that the hypothesis cannot be true for all the KRR text of the ‘SS,’ specifically for sequences other than the “XıYZ” type, leaving many doubts in the minds of epigraphers and suggesting flaws in the method of decipherment. To the most evident degree, the message encrypted in the ‘SS,’ i.e., text I, is still resisting decoding by the scholars.