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A long time ago I thought
that
GD16 was a picture of a
shield. I couldn't find any
other reasonable
explanation. At the same
time I doubted this idea though,
still believing that the
Easter Islanders were a
peaceful people without need
for shields. Perhaps the
shields were a remnant from
some earlier habitat? Later I came to realize that they were not so peaceful in the end after all. But I had at that time got the idea in my head that GD16 was a special variant of ordinary vai (GD75) and I did no longer believe in the shield explanation. However, there must be some difference in meaning between GD16 with two rims and GD16 with one rim. Was the one with only one rim a time of drought? In Larousse I have now found evidence that my first idea about a shield perhaps after all is right:
Three cyclopes are using their hammers to help Hephaistos (sitting) forge the shield for Achilles. Achilles or Hercules does not matter, I think. And the three cyclopes presumably together cover 'summer'. Remember the three daysigns on the Gate of the Sun? And Hylas was the squire of Hercules, squire meaning 'shield-bearer'.
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