3. In the text of G the 359th (counted from Gb8-30) glyph has at right a sign of rima aueue integrated in tagata as if it was an arm:
Then comes a tagata in standard form (Gb5-6) as day number 360. I guess this peculiar arrangement of two tagata glyphs could indicate that before the standard form can be presented the body fluids must escape: "Embalming is known and practised with surprising skill in one particular family of chiefs. Unlike the Egyptian method, as described by Herodotus, it is performed in Samoa exclusively by women. The viscera being removed and buried, they, day after day, anoint the body with a mixture of oil and aromatic juices. To let the fluids escape, they continue to puncture the body all over with fine needles. In about two months, the process of desiccation is completed. The hair, which had been cut and laid aside at the commencement of the operation, is now glued carefully on to the scalp by a resin from the bush. The abdomen is filled up with folds of native cloth; the body is wrapped up with folds of the same material, and laid out on a mat, leaving the hands, face, and head exposed." (Turner and Stair according to Bierbach) In other words tagata - in its standard form without additional signs - could be similar to the moai statues, they represent forefathers, different individuals in the past exhibited in a standard form - like mummies. The stone statues are said to be ariga ora, living images. Tagata glyphs of this standard kind are also presenting their faces (en face). Probably the eyes - in which life, ora, is located - are expressed in tagata glyphs by the ovals where ears normally are to be found, not only because of the sun symbols once adorning the ears of the inhabitants of Easter Island, but mainly because in the rongorongo system of writing no part of any entity can be drawn inside the perimeter of its sign. |
