Ancient wooden tablet with 'indecipherable message' in unknown language found

An indecipherable ancient tablet discovered on Easter Island dates back to the 15th century.

This date suggests that it existed before Europeans arrived and has led to new questions about the language in which it was engraved.

The wooden tablet contains a script called Rongorongo.

The species was found on the island of Rapa Nui in the eastern Pacific Ocean, also known as Easter Island.

A new study dated the tablet located in Rome.

It was dated between 1493 and 1509, according to research published in Scientific Reports.

The new radiocarbon dates suggest the language was used for 200 years before Europeans arrived in the area.

This means that the text could be one of the few examples of an independently created writing system Living Science.

'Placing the origins of an undeciphered script in time is crucial to understanding the invention of writing in human history.

“Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, developed a script that is now engraved on fewer than thirty wooden objects and remains undeciphered. Its origin is also unclear.

“Central to this issue is whether the script was invented before European travelers reached the island in the eighteenth century AD,” the researchers wrote.

The Rongorongo characters look completely different from the European text.

To date, no one knows what they mean.

There are actually four rongorongo tablets in Rome.

They were taken from Easter Island by Catholic missionaries in 1869.

A bishop in Tahiti first received them and then sent them to Europe.