The part to the left, which I have included as a main type of glyph in my catalogue, is said by Metoro to be niu. In most of Polynesia niu means coconut palm, but on Easter Island there were no such palms. Instead the term was used for another tree, Thespesia populnea (called miro on Tahiti). The right part of the glyph could imply some type of command. We should be careful when judging what exactly it might mean. Probably significance is marked with how the 'staff' is bent, how thick it is, how sharp point it ends with etc. The six short lines at the right is indicating the colour red, I think. |