Mystery 14 of 15
14. What Does the Indus Script Say?
The Indus Valley Civilization built some of the largest and most sophisticated cities of the Bronze Age, including Harappa and Mohenjo-daro.
Its people also left behind thousands of objects covered in distinctive symbols.
Unfortunately, we cannot read them.
More than 400 signs have been identified in the Indus symbol system. They appear on seals, pottery, tablets, and other artifacts. Some objects traveled far beyond the civilization’s heartland through ancient trade networks.
Researchers have proposed numerous languages and linguistic families as possible candidates for the underlying language. Others have even questioned whether the symbols represented complete spoken language in the same way as Egyptian hieroglyphs or cuneiform.
The biggest obstacle is length. Most Indus inscriptions are extremely short.
Why It Is Still a Mystery
There is no known bilingual inscription containing both Indus symbols and a script we already understand. Nothing comparable to the Rosetta Stone has been discovered.
Without longer texts or a bilingual key, proposed decipherments are exceptionally difficult to test.
As a result, one of the ancient world’s great urban civilizations remains largely silent. We can excavate its streets and buildings, but we still cannot confidently read what its people wrote.
Add Comment