Birdman Celebration Possibly Described in Rongorongo Tablet C: Use of AI to Assist in Visual Analysis of n=3 Glyphs from Lunar Calendar

Can artificial intelligence (AI) help solve a longstanding visual problem? Rongorongo is a glyph-based script developed in Rapa Nui (Easter Island) onwards the mid-15th century. While Polynesian society is well-known for its shared culture, the invention of rongorongo was a phenomenon unique to Rapa Nui; thus, the meaning of its glyphs remains largely undeciphered. Although there are several tablets in existence, at present, only Mamari tablet C contains the longest deciphered passage, pertaining to a lunar calendar. This makes tablet C an optimal candidate for additional deciphering efforts, since there is an agreed-upon “baseline” of data. For this purpose, the emergence of frontier AI models can be useful due to their potential for mass-analysis. As such, the present study aimed to assess the usefulness of AI to decipher n=3 oft-occurring glyphs, as identified by the ethnographer Thomas Barthel: no. 002, no. 008, and no. 040—the only one with an agreed-upon meaning of “crescent moon.” Two models, Chat-GPT 5.6 Luna and Claude Haiku 4.5, were asked to share their impressions on each image. Descriptions were then qualitatively analyzed by the author for correctness of information and feasibility of interpretation. While both models produced mostly relevant descriptions, Claude’s suggestions aligned more closely with Rapa Nui’s Birdman ceremony, an important event marking the transition of the society from ancestor worship to that of the singular deity Make Make, with powerful sociopolitical implications. Visual analysis is then compared to what is known about the lunar calendar, and future directions are discussed.

Keywords: Rapa Nui, Rongorongo, Make Make, Mamari Tablet C, Polynesian Languages, AI Research.