This rongorongo tablet, produced by Easter Island craftsmen, is part of a group of twenty-six which the only dating ascribes to before the 1600s. The ornaments, engraved with obsidian and shark teeth, represent plants, birds, fish, anthropomorphic figures and geometric shapes, and depict very ancient stories. The pattern of the symbols alternates from left to right and then from right to left, moving like oxen intent on ploughing a field. The meaning of these engravings is still unknown, but they are thought to have been used to memorise the genealogy of ancestors.
