The Ancient Indus Script

 and the Civilization of the

Indus Valley

Indus Valley Civilization (shaded in green)

Indus Seal impression showing a typical

"inscription" of five "characters"

Certainly interpretation of the Ancient Indus Script is not a typical topic of discussion in or around the office “break room”, but it is one of several ancient written forms that modern linguists have yet to understand.  In short, there is an entire ancient culture out there that continues to hold untold secrets.

Technically the term Indus script refers to short strings of symbols associated with the Indus Valley Civilization, which was the first major urban culture of South Asia (in and around North Western India) some time, between the 35th and 20th centuries BC. In spite of many attempts at decipherments and claims, it has yet to be deciphered.

The Indus Valley Civilization reached its peak a good while ago, roughly from 2600 BC to 1900 BC.

The primary source of writing dated from the Indus Civilization is in the form of about two thousand inscribed seals, which are in good, legible condition.   Just in case you don't know what type seals are being described here, they are best described as being used to make impressions on impressionable materials like clay…Note the sample copy displayed above.

A little more than 500 distinct Indus symbols have thus far been identified, which appear to be representations of fish, rings, men and cow heads which have offered little help thus far.   In order for you to recognize the enormous effort being projected in this endeavor you should know that in 2004 one wealthy researcher offered $10,000.00 to anyone who could find a single Indus seal displaying more than 50 of the symbols; currently the average is only 5 and I think the most displayed on any seal to date is only 26.

Although these seals and samples of Indus writing have been available to the scholastic world for close to 70 years, little or no progress has been made on deciphering this elegant script. This is not due to a general lack of effort, but there are several short falls in this pursuit and perhaps of the greatest significance is the lack of a bilingual text such as was displayed on the Rosetta Stone that was instrumental in deciphering the Egyptian Hieroglyphics.  If scholars are ever able to decipher the Indus language, they may need a similar discovery.

Sources …                                                             http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/apr/23/indus-civilisation-language-symbols http://www.ancientscripts.com/indus.html                                          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indus_script                          http://tgsfree4allinfo.blogspot.com/2011/09/rosetta-stone.html