Mystery AtlasThe Post-Contact Stimulus Diffusion Theory
The view that rongorongo was invented after 1770, when islanders who signed a Spanish annexation treaty by marking it with their own characters conceived the idea of writing from that encounter without copying the Spanish script itself.
This is a knowledge-graph entry: what our data records about The Post-Contact Stimulus Diffusion Theory and how it connects to the rest of the atlas. It does not have a full article of its own yet.
Connected to
How this topic links to the people, places, and ideas around it — drawn from our knowledge graph.
Theories & Explanations
The Post-Contact Stimulus Diffusion Theory contradicts The Pre-Contact Independent Invention Theory — 2024 radiocarbon dating of one surviving tablet (Tablet D, Echancree) to 1493-1509 predates the 1770 contact by over two centuries, though only one of the roughly 27 surviving objects has been directly dated so far.
Places
The Post-Contact Stimulus Diffusion Theory occurred in Rapa Nui (Easter Island) — The theory ties rongorongo's invention to the 1770 Spanish annexation ceremony held on the island, at which island chiefs reportedly marked the treaty with their own characters.
Science & Technology
- Rongorongoin use by at least the 15th–19th centuries AD
The Post-Contact Stimulus Diffusion Theory attempts to explain Rongorongo.