Some of the biggest mysteries in the realm of archeology don’t have to do as much with sites yet to be found and unearthed, but rather how little we know about objects that were found a long time ago. While 4,000 pieces featuring the Indus script, belonging to the Indus Valley Civilization, have been found over the last century, no one has been able to decipher it, prompting officials to offer a $1 million reward for anyone who can crack it.
The Indus Valley Civilization appeared 5,300 years ago in present-day northwest India and Pakistan. Populated by farmers and traders, the city flourished for centuries. With time, it became one of the world’s first urban societies, but soon it all came to an end. The reason behind its demise remains a mystery, as do the rules and beliefs of the society, all possibly locked behind their yet-to-be deciphered language.
The Indus script is made up of a mix of signs and symbols. Found on items such as stone seals and small tablets, which don’t allow for long texts, the messages are known for being very short. The average is about five signs or symbols on top of a central animal motif and an object next to it, with the longest found being 34 symbols long. Researchers have spotted about 68 symbols across the available materials; however, without a bilingual artifact, like the world-famous Rosetta Stone, unraveling the meaning has been nearly impossible.
To inspire researchers and the general public to find answers, MK Stalin, the chief minister of southern India’s Tamil Nadu state, in south-east India, has offered a $1 million reward for anyone who can decode it. While the prize was offered after the publication of a new study by K Rajan and R Sivananthan that found “parallels” between Indus script symbols and south Indian graffiti marks found in pottery, suggesting “a kind of cultural contact,” no one has been able to crack it yet, despite numerous efforts by linguistic scholars.
“The Indus script is perhaps the most important system of writing that is undeciphered,” Asko Parpola, a leading Indologist told BBC. While some think the symbols may hold hold spiritual and magical meanings, these stone seals were used for trade and commerce.
Researchers have turned to machine learning, hoping newer technologies can help them solve this mystery. But for all these resources, there are doubts as to how to approach it.”We still don’t know whether the signs are complete words, or part of words or part of sentences,” says Nisha Yadav, a researcher at the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. “Our understanding is that the script is structured and there is an underlying logic in the writing.”
With some luck, researchers will be able to solve this decades-old mystery, not only finally allowing us to decode this script, but also to hopefully allow us to learn about the way this culture experienced the world.
An Indian governor has offered a $1 million reward to anyone who can decipher the Indus script, which has long puzzled linguists.
Made up of a mix of signs and symbols, these messages may hold the story of the rise and demise of the Indus Valley Civilization, which appeared 5,300 years ago.
Source: A million-dollar challenge to crack the script of early Indians
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