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 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.

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: 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 Book Demonstrates That The Harappan Script Is Well On Its Way To Decipherment.

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.