Rongorongo text O

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.

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.

On side a, Fischer counts ~ 187 glyphs from personal examination and an 1883 sketch by Bastian, many of which cannot be reliably identified.