Editing Rongorongo (section)

===Glyphs===
[[Image:Rongorongo B-v Aruku-Kurenga (end).jpg|thumb|right|A photographic negative of one end of tablet '''B'''. The numbers are line numbers; ''Fin de 13'' means "end of [line] 13".]]

The glyphs are stylized human, animal, vegetable and geometric shapes, and often form [[Typographical ligature|compounds]]. Nearly all those with heads are oriented head up and are either seen face on or in profile to the right, in the direction of writing. It is not known what significance turning a glyph head-down or to the left may have had. Heads often have characteristic projections on the sides which may be eyes (as on the [[sea turtle]] glyph below, and more clearly on sea-turtle petroglyphs) but which often resemble ears (as on the anthropomorphic petroglyph in the next section). Birds are common; many resemble the [[frigatebird]] (see image directly below) which was associated with the supreme god [[Makemake (mythology)|Makemake]].<ref>Guy 2006</ref>{{refn|However, a glyph resembling a chicken or rooster is not found, despite chickens being the mainstay of the economy and some of the tablets supposedly commemorating "how many men [a chief] had killed, how many chickens he had stolen".<ref>Routledge 1919:251</ref>|group="note"}} Other glyphs look like fish or arthropods. A few are similar to [[petroglyph]]s found throughout the island.

[[File:Rongorongo-sample-en.png|thumb|center|upright=2|Some of the more iconic rongorongo glyphs. The seated man [bottom left] is thought to be a compound. Readings from Barthel (1958). The captions in the right-most column are merely descriptive.]]