The Archaeology and Epigraphy of Indus Writing

The Archaeology and Epigraphy of Indus Writing

Author: Bryan K. Wells

Publisher: Archaeopress Publishing Ltd

Published: 2015-02-06

Total Pages: 153

ISBN-13: 1784910473

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A detailed examination of the Indus script. It presents new analysis based on an expansive text corpus using revolutionary analytical techniques developed specifically for the purpose of deciphering the Indus script.


Epigraphic Approaches to Indus Writing

Epigraphic Approaches to Indus Writing

Author: Bryan K. Wells

Publisher: Oxbow Books Limited

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781842179949

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Epigraphic Approaches to Indus Writing is a comprehensive look at one of the last undeciphered Old World scripts. It has defied decipherment for 90 years because of the terse nature of the texts and the lack of a comprehensive corpus and detailed sign list. This book presents the analysis of a comprehensive, computer-based corpus using the most detailed sign list yet compiled for the Indus script. Custom computer programs allowed the verification of the sign list and the compilation of statistics regarding sign distribution and use. Among the questions addressed are: How do you create an epigraphic database? How do you define a sign? What is the Indus number system like? Where did the Indus script come from? and What is the Indus language(s)? Bryan Wells is an archaeologist, epigrapher, and geographer who has excavated on the west and east coasts of North America and in Baluchistan (Pakistan). Wells has studied the Indus script since 1992, and holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University.


The Archaeology and Epigraphy of Indus Writing

The Archaeology and Epigraphy of Indus Writing

Author: Bryan K. Wells

Publisher: Archaeopress Archaeology

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781784910464

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A detailed examination of the Indus script. It presents new analysis based on an expansive text corpus using revolutionary analytical techniques developed specifically for the purpose of deciphering the Indus script.


Indus Age

Indus Age

Author: Gregory L. Possehl

Publisher:

Published: 1996

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13:

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Indus Age: The Writing System presents a detailed typology of the Harappan pictographic script, discusses the place of writing in Harappan culture, and speculates on the possible survival of the script in later South Asian writing systems. The failure to decipher the writing system of the Harappan civilization has not been for lack of trying. Possehl reviews over forty publications on the script, many of which attempt to decipher it. Some of these attempts, such as Flinders Petrie's Reading the Script as Egyptian Hieroglyphics, are fascinating but far-fetched. Others, for example the Russian Team's Computers and the Indus Script, are more plausible. However, no reading of the Indus script can be considered correct because there is no independent test by which to check its accuracy. Until there is, Possehl contends, the script will remain undeciphered.


The Indus

The Indus

Author: Andrew Robinson

Publisher: Reaktion Books

Published: 2021-03-08

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 1780235410

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The Indus civilization flourished for half a millennium from about 2600 to 1900 BCE, when it mysteriously declined and vanished from view. It remained invisible for almost four thousand years, until its ruins were discovered in the 1920s by British and Indian archaeologists. Today, after almost a century of excavation, it is regarded as the beginning of Indian civilization and possibly the origin of Hinduism. The Indus: Lost Civilizations is an accessible introduction to every significant aspect of an extraordinary and tantalizing “lost” civilization, which combined artistic excellence, technological sophistication, and economic vigor with social egalitarianism, political freedom, and religious moderation. The book also discusses the vital legacy of the Indus civilization in India and Pakistan today.


The Harappan Civilization and Its Writing

The Harappan Civilization and Its Writing

Author: Walter Ashlin Fairservis

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2023-07-17

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 9004676759

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A description of a methodology by which to decipher the writing of the Harappan civilization. The methodology is then applied and the results set forth in detail. There, results coupled with the author's extensive archaeological knowledge of the Indus Civilization creates a picture of ancient South Asian life much of which in content is unique.


Deciphering the Indus Script

Deciphering the Indus Script

Author: Asko Parpola

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2009-10-01

Total Pages: 400

ISBN-13: 9780521795661

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Of the writing systems of the ancient world which still await deciphering, the Indus script is the most important. It developed in the Indus or Harappan Civilization, which flourished c. 2500-1900 BC in and around modern Pakistan, collapsing before the earliest historical records of South Asia were composed. Nearly 4,000 samples of the writing survive, mainly on stamp seals and amulets, but no translations. Professor Parpola is the chief editor of the Corpus of Indus Seals and Inscriptions. His ideas about the script, the linguistic affinity of the Harappan language, and the nature of the Indus religion are informed by a remarkable command of Aryan, Dravidian, and Mesopotamian sources, archaeological materials, and linguistic methodology. His fascinating study confirms that the Indus script was logo-syllabic, and that the Indus language belonged to the Dravidian family.


Epigraphic Approaches to Indus Writing

Epigraphic Approaches to Indus Writing

Author: Bryan Kenneth Wells

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9781109894929

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This dissertation reflects the following five research goals: (1) to create a database of all published inscribed Indus artifacts (Electronic Corpus of Indus Texts or ECIT); (2) to create an interactive computer program to aid in the analysis of the texts (Interactive Concordance of Indus Texts or ICIT); (3) to create a comprehensive sign list for the Indus script; (4) to analyze the Indus texts in order to discover their structures and patterns of sign use; (5) to determine as closely as possible the identity of the Indus Language. The ECIT database lists 5643 artifacts with Indus texts and/or iconography. As far as possible each record gives the details (size, find spot, material, design etc.) and photographs for every item. From the ECIT 3835 artifacts with at least one recognizable Indus sign were transferred to the ICIT. These texts are the basis of the analysis found in this dissertation, especially for the sign list (Chapter 3 and Appendix I). Counts for each sign by site, artifact type, and associated iconography were generated using the ICIT program (v1.59). A subset of the ICIT containing only the complete texts were used for the initial, medial and terminal counts. The structural analysis revealed that the Indus texts may have a Verb initial syntax and that word construction proceeded using a variety of prefixes, infixes and affixes. The morphological patterns do not match those of either Indo-Aryan or Proto-Dravidian. Proto- or Para-Munda could not be ruled out, but could not be verified. Language X still remains a possibility. Two tests of possible decipherments are offered in the final pages.