Editing Rongorongo (section)

===Classic texts {{anchor|classic texts}}===
Barthel referred to each of 24 texts he accepted as genuine with a letter of the alphabet; two texts have been added to the corpus since then. The two faces of the tablets are distinguished by suffixing '''r''' ([[Recto and verso|recto]]) or '''v''' ([[Recto and verso|verso]]) when the reading sequence can be ascertained, to which the line being discussed is appended. Thus '''Pr2''' is item '''P''' (the Great Saint Petersburg Tablet), recto, second line. When the reading sequence cannot be ascertained, '''a''' and '''b''' are used for the faces. Thus '''Ab1''' is item '''A''' ''(Tahua),'' side '''b''', first line. The six sides of the Snuff Box are lettered as sides '''a''' to '''f'''. Nearly all publications follow the Barthel convention, though a popular book by Fischer uses an idiosyncratic numbering system.

{| class=wikitable
|+ Rongorongo text corpus
!scope="col"| Barthel<br/>code
!scope="col"| Fischer<br/>code
!scope="col"| Nickname / Description
!scope="col"| Location
!scope="col"| Notes
|-
!scope="row"| A
| align=center | RR1 || ''[[Rongorongo text A|Tahua]]'' (the Oar) || rowspan=3| [[Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary|Rome]] || 1825 glyphs inscribed on a {{convert|91|cm|adj=on}} European or American oar blade. [[Fraxinus excelsior|Ash]] wood.
|-
!scope="row"| B
| align=center| RR4 || ''[[Rongorongo text B|Aruku kurenga]]'' || 1135 glyphs on a {{convert|41|cm|adj=on}} fluted [[Portia tree|rosewood]] tablet.
|-
!scope="row"| C
| align=center| RR2 || ''[[Rongorongo text C|Mamari]]'' || 1000 glyphs on a {{convert|29|cm|adj=on}} unfluted rosewood tablet. Contains calendrical information; more pictographic than other texts.
|-
!scope="row"| D
| align=center| RR3 || ''[[Rongorongo text D|Échancrée]]'' || [[Musée de Tahiti et des Îles|Pape'ete]] || 270 glyphs on a {{convert|30|cm|adj=on}} unfluted notched tablet. The tablet first given to Jaussen, as a spool for a cord of hair. The two sides are written in different hands. [[Podocarpus latifolius|Yellowwood]]?
|-
!scope="row"| E
| align=center| RR6 || ''[[Rongorongo text E|Keiti]]'' || ([[Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968)|Leuven]]) || 822 glyphs on a {{convert|39|cm|adj=on}} fluted tablet. Destroyed by fire in World War I.
|-
!scope="row"| F
| align=center| RR7 || [[Rongorongo text F|Chauvet fragment]] || New York {{refn|In the collection of the [https://web.archive.org/web/20090802095551/http://www.mertonsimpsongallery.com:80/index3.htm Merton D. Simpson Gallery].|group="note"}} || A {{convert|12|cm|adj=on}} fragment with 51 recorded crudely executed glyphs. (Some glyphs are covered by a label.) Palm wood?
|-
!scope="row"| G
| align=center| RR8 || [[Rongorongo text G|Small Santiago]] || rowspan=3| [[National Museum of Natural History in Chile|Santiago]] || 720 glyphs on a {{convert|32|cm|adj=on}} fluted rosewood tablet. The verso may include a genealogy and does not resemble the patterns of other texts.
|-
!scope="row"| H
| align=center| RR9 || [[Rongorongo text H|Large Santiago]] || 1580 glyphs on a {{convert|44|cm|adj=on}} fluted rosewood tablet. Nearly duplicates '''P''' and '''Q'''.
|-
!scope="row"| I
| align=center| RR10 || [[Rongorongo text I|Santiago staff]] || 2920 glyphs inscribed on a {{convert|126|cm|adj=on}} chief's staff. The longest text, and the only one which appears to have punctuation. Among the patterns of the other texts, it resembles only '''Gv''' and '''Ta'''.
|-
!scope="row"| J
| align=center| RR20 || [[Rongorongo text J|Large ''reimiro'']] || rowspan=3| [[British Museum|London]] || A {{convert|73|cm|adj=on}} breast ornament decorated with two glyphs. May be old.
|-
!scope="row"| K
| align=center| RR19 || [[Rongorongo text K|London]] || 163 crudely executed glyphs paraphrasing '''Gr''' on a {{convert|22|cm|adj=on}} rosewood tablet.
|-
!scope="row"| L
| align=center| RR21 || [[Rongorongo text L|Small ''reimiro'']] || A {{convert|41|cm|adj=on}} breast ornament decorated with a line of 44 glyphs. May be old. Rosewood.
|-
!scope="row"| M
| align=center| RR24 || [[Rongorongo text M|Large Vienna]] || rowspan=2| [[Vienna Museum of Ethnology|Vienna]] || A {{convert|28|cm|adj=on}} rosewood tablet in poor condition. Side '''b''' is destroyed; 54 glyphs are visible on side '''a'''. An early cast preserves more of the text.
|-
!scope="row"| N
| align=center| RR23 || [[Rongorongo text N|Small Vienna]] || 172 intricately carved glyphs, loosely paraphrasing '''Ev''', on a {{convert|26|cm|adj=on}} piece of yellowwood.
|-
!scope="row"| O
| align=center| RR22 || [[Rongorongo text O|Berlin]] || [[Ethnological Museum of Berlin|Berlin]] || {{convert|103|cm|adj=on}} piece of fluted driftwood with 90 legible glyphs on side '''a'''. In poor condition, none of the glyphs on side '''b''' can be identified.
|-
!scope="row"| P
| align=center| RR18 || [[Rongorongo text P|Large St{{nbsp}}Petersburg]] || rowspan=2| [[Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography|St.{{nbsp}}Petersburg]] || 1163 glyphs inscribed on a {{convert|63|cm|adj=on}} European or American oar blade. Yellowwood. Had been used for planking. Nearly duplicates '''H''' and '''Q'''.
|-
!scope="row"| Q
| align=center| RR17 || [[Rongorongo text Q|Small St{{nbsp}}Petersburg]] || 718 glyphs on a {{convert|44|cm|adj=on}} fluted rosewood tree trunk. Nearly duplicates '''H''' and '''P'''. A closeup of '''Qr3–7''' is shown in the [[#top|infobox]].
|-
!scope="row"| R
| align=center| RR15 || [[Rongorongo text R|Small Washington]] || rowspan=2| [[National Museum of Natural History|Washington]] || 357 glyphs, nearly all in phrases repeated on other texts, on a {{convert|24|cm|adj=on}} piece.
|-
!scope="row"| S
| align=center| RR16 || [[Rongorongo text S|Large Washington]] || 600 legible glyphs on a {{convert|63|cm|adj=on}} piece of yellowwood. Later cut for planking.
|-
!scope="row"| T
| align=center| RR11 || [[Rongorongo text T|Fluted Honolulu]] || rowspan=4| [[Bernice P. Bishop Museum|Honolulu]] || 120 legible glyphs on a {{convert|31|cm|adj=on}} fluted tablet. In poor condition, side '''b''' is illegible.
|-
!scope="row"| U
| align=center| RR12 || [[Rongorongo text U|Honolulu beam]] || 27 legible glyphs on a {{convert|70|cm|adj=on}} European or American beam. In poor condition. The two sides are written in different hands.
|-
!scope="row"| V
| align=center| RR13 || [[Rongorongo text V|Honolulu oar]] || 22 legible glyphs on a {{convert|72|cm|adj=on}} European or American oar blade. In poor condition. One line of text, plus a separate pair of glyphs, on side '''a'''; traces of text on side '''b'''.
|-
!scope="row"| W
| align=center| RR14 || [[Rongorongo text W|Honolulu fragment]] || A {{convert|7|cm|adj=on}} fragment with 8 glyphs on the one side that has been described.
|-
!scope="row"| X
| align=center| RR25 || ''[[Rongorongo text X|Tangata manu]]''<br/>(New{{nbsp}}York birdman) || [[American Museum of Natural History|New York]] || A {{convert|33|cm|adj=on}} birdman statuette with 37 superficially inscribed glyphs separated in seven short scattered texts.
|-
!scope="row"| Y
| align=center| RR5 || [[Rongorongo text Y|Paris snuffbox]] || [[Musée de l'Homme|Paris]] || A {{convert|7|cm|adj=on}} box cut and pieced together from three planed pieces of a tablet; 85 crude glyphs on outside of box only. Driftwood?
|-
!scope="row"| Z
| align=center| T4 || [[Rongorongo text Z|''Poike'' palimpsest]] || [[National Museum of Natural History in Chile|Santiago]] || Driftwood? {{convert|11|cm}}. Apparently a [[palimpsest]]; Fischer does not consider the legible layer of text to be genuine.
|-
!scope="row"| n/a
|n/a
|[[Rongorongo text Ragitoki|Ragitoki]]
|Undisclosed
|[[Barkcloth]], possibly illegitimate
|}

Crude glyphs have been found on a few stone objects and some additional wooden items, but most of these are thought to be fakes created for the early tourism market. Several of the 26 wooden texts are suspect due to uncertain provenance ('''X''', '''Y''', and '''Z'''), poor quality craftsmanship ('''F''', '''K''', '''V''', '''W''', '''Y''', and '''Z'''), or to having been carved with a steel blade ('''K''', '''V''', and '''Y'''),<ref group=note name="steel"/> and thus, although they may prove to be genuine, should not be trusted in initial attempts at decipherment. '''Z''' resembles many early forgeries in not being boustrophedon, but it may be a [[palimpsest]] on an authentic but now illegible text.<ref>Fischer 1997:534</ref>