https://tinyurl.com/yalshmuy This monograph presents a recent (February, 2019) article by K. Kris Hirst which reviews the $1000 prize-challenge posed by Farmer et al in 2004 with a free pdf to download. (Steve Farmer, Richard Sproat, and Michael Witzel. 2004. The Collapse of the Indus-Script Thesis: The Myth of a Literate Harappan Civilization. EJVS 11-2: 19-57). Were the Harappans who wrote ca. 30000 inscriptions, really illiterates? See: Itihāsa. With a large cache of Dilmun seals, Indus Script Corpora has grown to c. 30,000 insciptions of wealth-accounting ledgers
An answer to this profound question lies in the meaning assumed for an ancient writing system and in an answer to another related rhetorical question: Were the early scribes of Egyptian hieroglyphs illiterates? Can there not be a writing system to list products (using a spoken language) made by ancient artisans and records of their sources?
It is well-known that Egyptian hieroglyphs also started as a system of tokens to document product lists produced by artisans. For example, bone and ivory tags and clay seal impressions which bore hieroglyphs unearthed at Abydos, 300 miles south of Cairo (dated ca. 3400 and 3200 B.C.E), making them the oldest known examples of Egyptian writing system. Were the scribes of these bone and ivory tags illiterates? (cf. Larkin Mitchell, 1999, Earliest Egyptian Glyphs, in: Archaeology Archive, Volume 52 Number 2, March/April 1999).
Let us take a look at the early token systems of Harappans as revealed in very selective pictographs shown on pot from Nausharo. Some of the pottery from Nausharo shows similarities to that found in Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and eastern Iran. The pottery suggests that different cultures coexisted with the Harappan.
Background on Baluchistan archaeology
"Baluchistan.Many sites in Baluchistan (Stein 1929, 1931, Franke-Vogt website, Fairservis 1971, Dales1979, Besenval 1994, 1999) reveal signs of contact with the Harappan Civilisation, but the sites with distinct Harappan occupational levelsare not many. In northeast Baluchistan the majorHarappan site is Dabarkot. This shows thickHarappan deposits high up in the section of amound which is about 376m in diameter. The site is a part of the Gomal system which marksthe route toward the Ghazni-Kandahar area of south Afghanistan.TheKachiPlain has two major sites,Judeirjodaro in the southern section of the plainand Nausharo in its northern edge near Mehrgarh.These sites lead toward the mouth of the BolanPass, but as the Kachi Plain is agriculturally prosperous and has a good reputation for local bullocks, it is possible that Judeirjodaro andNausharo might have been agriculturally important settlements in their own righ...In its excavated form Nausharo has revealed aMature Harappan settlement…A report of the 1960s described it as being equal to Mohenjodaro in size and importance. No further work seems tohave taken place at this site….in the room which had its floor decorated withintersecting circles. A hearth, a buried storagejar and a drain formed by a broken pot werealso found in this room. The ordinary room sizeat Balakot was 2.20m x 3.20 m. One large kiln was found associated with a few smaller ones. These kilns were used possibly for bakingterracotta animal figurines. There is no evidence of a surrounding wall or fortification at Balakot.On the western side of the Las Bela Plain thereis a smaller Harappan site called Khairiakot.The Kanrach Valley is in the hilly sectionadjoining the Las Bela Plain on the east, with the seasonal stream of the Kanrach flowingthrough it. The valley is framed by the Mor (1400m) and the Chapar (1500 m) ranges. BakkarButhi, a small Harappan site located on a terraced hill above the Kharari (a tributary rivulet of theKanrach) and overlooking its valley, comprisesa fortified southern mound and about two houses and open spaces related to chert production outside it. Much of the pottery is identical withthat found at the classical Harappan sites butthere is also an element of local production. A huge stone-built dam blocked the Kharari beforeit entered the Kanrach Valley and was theeasternmost in a series of three dams. The sitehas been dated around 2400BCE...More to the southeast, the Hab Valley provides access from Sind to the interior of Baluchistan." (D.K. Chakrabarti, Distribution and features of the Harappan settlements, https://www.academia.edu/10640140/distribution_and_features_of_the_Indus_Civilization
Location of Nausharo in relation to other sites of Sarasvati (Indus) Civilization
Ceramic from Nausharo ID showing transition from Early to Mature Harappan phases (after Jarrige 1989).
Ceramic from Nausharo ID showing transition fromEarly to Mature Harappan phases.
http://www.guimet.fr/La-mission-archeologique-de-l,636 Is there an underlying language which explains the pictographs on these Nausharo pots, of the zebu (bos indicus) tid to a ficus religiosa (or glomerata) tree and the bird perched behind the fatty hump on the shoulder of the zebu? An associated imagery is that of an antelope or markhor similarly tied to another tree. What did the large storage jars contain? Is it possible that the hieroglyphs and hypertexts of zebu, markhor, ficus leaves signify some product stored in these jars? I suggest that the storage jars painted with Indus Script hypertexts/hieroglyphs stored steel ingots based on the following rebus readings of the Indus Script inscriptions found on these Nausharo pots. I also suggest that the zebu and markhor tied to stylized trees (with, say, ficus glomerata leaves) and a black drongo perched on the zebu, signify wealth-accounting ledgers, metalwork catalogues of merchandise. The meḍh 'markhor, ram'markhor is rebus meḍho 'merchant'. The black drongo is pōlaḍu 'black drongo bird' (Telugu) Rupaka, 'metaphor' or rebus: पोलाद pōlāda n ( or P) Steel. पोलादी a Of steel. (Marathi) bulad 'steel, flint and steel for making fire' (Amharic); fUlAd 'steel' (Arabic) pōlāda 'steel', pwlad (Russian), fuladh (Persian) folādī (Pashto). The trees to which a markhor or a zebu are tied, orthographically signify leaves of loa 'ficus glomerata' Rebus: loha 'copper, iron'. The tying of the two animals signifies dāẽ 'tied' rebus dhā̆vaḍ 'iron smelter.' Thus, the Indus Script hypertexts are a writing system to create document archives of wealth-accounting ledgers, metalwork catalogues (as marketing promotions/presentations as seen on imageries of hieroglyphs taken on procession.
I submit that the oval spots on a zebu terracotta figurine signifyपोलाद pōlāda, 'crucible steel cake' explained also as mūhā mẽṛhẽt = iron smelted by the Kolhes and formed into an equilateral lump a little pointed at each of four ends (Santali)
Slide 33. Early Harappan zebu figurine with incised spots from Harappa. Some of the Early Harappan zebu figurines were decorated. One example has incised oval spots. It is also stained a deep red, an extreme example of the types of stains often found on figurines that are usually found in trash and waste deposits. Approximate dimensions (W x H(L) x D): 1.8 x 4.6 x 3.5 cm. (Photograph by Richard H. Meadow) http://www.harappa.com/figurines/33.html
The oval spots are shaped like the copper ingots shown on this photograh of Maysar, c. 2200 BCE:
Maysar c.2200 BCE Packed copper ingots INGOTS
mūhā mẽṛhẽt = iron smelted by the Kolhes and formed into an equilateral lump a little pointed at each of four ends (Santali)
Another artifact which compares with the described shape of mūhā mẽṛhẽt 'steel ingot' is shown in the characteristic oval shape of a crucible steel buttton.
पोळ [pōḷa], 'zebu' Rebus: magnetite, citizen.(See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2015/08/zebu-archaeometallurgy-legacy-of-india.html ) mūhā mẽṛhẽt = iron smelted by the Kolhes and formed into an equilateral lump a little pointed at each of four ends (Santali) खोट(p. 212) [ khōṭa ] f A mass of metal (unwrought or of old metal melted down); an ingot or wedge. (Marathi)
The figurine signifies ingots of पोळ [pōḷa], ‘magnetite’. This is a metalwork catalogue message in Indus Script Corpora.
The following proverb indicates the exalted status of the zebu, bos indicus which read rebus as पोळ‘magnetite, ferrite ore’ is the life-sustaining wealth of the artisans: ज्याचीखावीपोळीत्याचीवाजवावीटाळी. Of whom you eat the salt, him laud and exalt. टाळी (p. 196) ṭāḷī f (ताल S) Beating the hands together.
A rare e.g. of a Kernos ring from the subcontinent. It was apprently smuggled to japan from a site in what's today Balochistan
Top view of same: Kernos rings were made frequently in bronze age and later West Asia and Greece. This e.g. from subcontinent suggests that it was made using local motifs but inspired closely by west Asian Kernos design.
Bottom view of same along with a stand alone bull from what's today Balochistan showing similar techinique of manufacture.
Fig.5 Ring kernoi from Cyprus “…an example of a ring-kernos of the White Painted II variety from Cyprus has, over an elaborately painted ring with a basket handle, bull’s and goat’s heads, pomegranates and miniature vases (fig.5).”(BM Pande, opcit., p.318).
Hypertext: miṇḍā́l 'markhor' (Tōrwālī) meḍho a ram, a sheep (Gujarati) Rebus: meḍ 'iron' (Mu.Ho.) med 'copper' (Slavic languages),mr̥du 'iron' (Skt.) Rebus: meḍho'merchant':
I suggest that this terracotta ring object is an Indus Script Hypertext with the following hieroglyph components:
pōḷa 'zebu' Rebus: pōḷa 'magnetite ore'. पोळ (p. 534) [ pōḷa ] m A bull dedicated to the gods, marked with a trident and discus, and set at large.पोळा (p. 534) [ pōḷā ] m (पोळ) A festive day for cattle,--the day of new moon of श्रावण or of भाद्रपद. Bullocks are exempted from labor; variously daubed and decorated; and paraded about in worship.पोळींव (p. 534) [ pōḷīṃva ] p of पोळणें Burned, scorched, singed, seared. (Marathi)
2.Bird, black drongo: pōlaḍu 'black drongo bird' (Telugu) Rupaka, 'metaphor' or rebus: पोलाद pōlāda n ( or P) Steel. पोलादी a Of steel. (Marathi) bulad 'steel, flint and steel for making fire' (Amharic); fUlAd 'steel' (Arabic) pōlāda 'steel', pwlad (Russian), fuladh (Persian) folādī (Pashto)
Zebu, bos indicus PLUS black drongo bird (perched on the back of the bull) This bird is called పసులపోలిగాడు pasula-pōli-gāḍu 'friend of cattle'.
3. Circle:*varta2 ʻ circular object ʼ or more prob. ʻ something made of metal ʼ, cf. vartaka -- 2 n. ʻ bell -- metal, brass ʼ lex. and vartalōha -- . [√vr̥t?] Pk. vaṭṭa -- m.n., °aya -- m. ʻ cup ʼ; Ash. waṭāˊk ʻ cup, plate ʼ; K. waṭukh, dat. °ṭakas m. ʻ cup, bowl ʼ; S. vaṭo m. ʻ metal drinking cup ʼ; N. bāṭā, ʻ round copper or brass vessel ʼ; A. bāṭi ʻ cup ʼ; B. bāṭā ʻ box for betel ʼ; Or. baṭā ʻ metal pot for betel ʼ, bāṭi ʻ cup, saucer ʼ; Mth. baṭṭā ʻ large metal cup ʼ, bāṭī ʻ small do. ʼ, H. baṭṛī f.; G. M. vāṭī f. ʻ vessel ʼ.(CDIAL 11347)
dāẽ 'tied' rebus dhā̆vaḍ 'iron smelter.' Rupaka, 'metaphor' or Rebus: bhaṭa, 'furnace'' baṭa 'iron'(Gujarati).
4. Pot: kuṇḍá1 n. (RV. in cmpd.) ʻ bowl, waterpot ʼ KātyŚr., ʻ basin of water, pit ʼ MBh. (semant. cf. kumbhá -- 1), °ḍaka -- m.n. ʻ pot ʼ Kathās., °ḍī -- f. Pāṇ., °ḍikā -- f. Up. 2. *gōṇḍa -- . [← Drav., e.g. Tam. kuṭam, Kan. guṇḍi, EWA i 226 with other ʻ pot ʼ words s.v. kuṭa -- 1]1. Pa. kuṇḍi -- , °ḍikā -- f. ʻ pot ʼ; Pk. kuṁḍa -- , koṁ° n. ʻ pot, pool ʼ, kuṁḍī -- , °ḍiyā -- f. ʻ pot ʼ; Kt. kuṇi ʻ pot ʼ, Wg. kuṇḍäˊi; Pr. künǰúdotdot; ʻ water jar ʼ; Paš. weg. kuṛã̄ ʻ clay pot ʼ < *kũṛā IIFL iii 3, 98 (or poss. < kuṭa -- 1), lauṛ. kuṇḍalīˊ ʻ bucket ʼ; Gaw. kuṇḍuṛīˊ ʻ milk bowl, bucket ʼ; Kal. kuṇḍṓk ʻ wooden milk bowl ʼ; Kho. kúṇḍuk, °ug ʻ milk bowl ʼ, (Lor.) ʻ a kind of platter ʼ; Bshk. kūnḗċ ʻ jar ʼ (+?); K. kŏnḍ m. ʻ metal or earthenware vessel, deep still spring ʼ, kọ̆nḍu m. ʻ large cooking pot ʼ, kunāla m. ʻ earthenware vessel with wide top and narrow base ʼ; S. kunu m. ʻ whirlpool ʼ, °no m. ʻ earthen churning pot ʼ, °nī f. ʻ earthen cooking pot ʼ, °niṛo m.; L. kunnã̄ m. ʻ tub, well ʼ, °nī f. ʻ wide -- mouthed earthen cooking pot ʼ, kunāl m. ʻ large shallow earthen vessel ʼ; P. kū̃ḍā m. ʻ cooking pot ʼ(←H.), kunāl, °lā m., °lī f.,
kuṇḍālā m. ʻ dish ʼ; WPah. cam.kuṇḍ ʻ pool ʼ, bhal. kunnu n. ʻ cistern for washing clothes in ʼ; Ku. kuno ʻ cooking pot ʼ, kuni, °nelo ʻ copper vessel ʼ; B. kũṛ ʻ small morass, low plot of riceland ʼ, kũṛi ʻ earthen pot, pipe -- bowl ʼ; Or. kuṇḍa ʻ earthen vessel ʼ, °ḍā ʻ large do. ʼ, °ḍi ʻ stone pot ʼ; Bi. kū̃ṛ ʻ iron or earthen vessel, cavity in sugar mill ʼ, kū̃ṛā ʻ earthen vessel for grain ʼ; Mth. kũṛ ʻ pot ʼ, kū̃ṛā ʻ churn ʼ; Bhoj. kũṛī ʻ vessel to draw water in ʼ; H. kū̃ḍ f. ʻ tub ʼ, kū̃ṛā m. ʻ small tub ʼ, kū̃ḍā m. ʻ earthen vessel to knead bread in ʼ, kū̃ṛī f. ʻ stone cup ʼ; G. kũḍ m. ʻ basin ʼ, kũḍī f. ʻ water jar ʼ; M. kũḍ n. ʻ pool, well ʼ, kũḍā m. ʻ large openmouthed jar ʼ, °ḍī f. ʻ small do. ʼ; Si. ken̆ḍiya, keḍ° ʻ pot, drinking vessel ʼ.2. N. gũṛ ʻ nest ʼ (or ← Drav. Kan. gūḍu ʻ nest ʼ, &c.: see kulāˊya -- ); H. gõṛā m. ʻ reservoir used in irrigation ʼ.Addenda: kuṇḍa -- 1: S.kcch. kūṇḍho m. ʻ flower -- pot ʼ, kūnnī f. ʻ small earthen pot ʼ; WPah.kṭg. kv́ṇḍh m. ʻ pit or vessel used for an oblation with fire into which barley etc. is thrown ʼ; J. kũḍ m. ʻ pool, deep hole in a stream ʼ; Brj. kū̃ṛo m., °ṛī f. ʻ pot ʼ.(CDIAL 3264) Rupaka, 'metaphor' or Rebus: kō̃da -कोँद ।'kiln'; kundanace' (Kashmiri)
Indus Seals and the Indus Civilization Script
Updated February 03, 2019 K.Kris Hirst
K. Kris Hirst is an archaeologist with 30 years of field experience. She is the author of The Archaeologist's Book of Quotations and her work has appeared in Science and Archaeology.
Does the Indus Civilization Script Represent a Language?
Examples of the 4500 year old Indus script on seals and tablets. Image courtesy of J.M. Kenoyer / Harappa.com
The Indus Civilization—also called the Indus Valley Civilization, Harappan, Indus-Sarasvati or Hakra Civilization—was based in an area of some 1.6 million square kilometers in what is today eastern Pakistan and northeastern India between about 2500-1900 BC. There are 2,600 known Indus sites, from enormous urban cities like Mohenjo Daro and Mehrgarhto small villages like Nausharo.
Although quite a bit of archaeological data has been collected, we know almost nothing about the history of this massive civilization, because we haven't deciphered the language yet. About 6,000 representations of glyph strings have been discovered at Indus sites, mostly on square or rectangular seals like the ones in this photo essay. Some scholars—notably Steve Farmer and associates in 2004—argue that the glyphs don't really represent a full language, but rather simply a non-structured symbol system.
An article written by Rajesh P.N. Rao (a computer scientist at the University of Washington) and colleagues in Mumbai and Chennai and published in Science on April 23, 2009, provides evidence that the glyphs really do represent a language. This photo essay will provide some context of that argument, as well as an excuse to look at pretty pictures of Indus seals, provided to Science and us by researcher J.N. Kenoyer of the University of Wisconsin and Harappa.com.
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What Exactly Is a Stamp Seal?
Examples of the 4500 year old Indus script on seals and tablets. Image courtesy of J.M. Kenoyer / Harappa.com
The script writing of the Indus civilization has been found on stamp seals, pottery, tablets, tools, and weapons. Of all these types of inscriptions, stamp seals are the most numerous, and they are the focus of this photo essay.
A stamp seal is something used by the—well you absolutely have to call it the international trade network of the Bronze age Mediterraneansocieties, including Mesopotamia and pretty much anybody who traded with them. In Mesopotamia, carved pieces of stone were pressed into the clay used to seal packages of trade goods. The impressions on the seals often listed the contents, or the origin, or the destination, or the amount of goods in the package, or all of the above.
The Mesopotamian stamp seal network is widely considered the first language in the world, developed because of the need for accountants to track whatever was being traded. CPAS of the world, take a bow!
03 What are the Seals of the Indus Civilization Like?
Examples of the 4500 year old Indus script on seals and tablets. Image courtesy of J.M. Kenoyer / Harappa.com
Indus civilization stamp seals are usually square to rectangular, and about 2-3 centimeters on a side, although there are larger and smaller ones. They were carved using bronze or flint tools, and they generally include an animal representation and a handful of glyphs.
Animals represented on the seals are mostly, interestingly enough, unicorns—basically, a bull with one horn, whether they're "unicorns" in the mythical sense or not is vigorously debated. There are also (in descending order of frequency) short-horned bulls, zebus, rhinoceroses, goat-antelope mixtures, bull-antelope mixtures, tigers, buffaloes, hares, elephants, and goats.
Some question has arisen about whether these were seals at all—there are very few sealings (the impressed clay) which have been discovered. That's definitely different from the Mesopotamian model, where the seals were clearly used as accounting devices: archaeologists have found rooms with hundreds of clay sealings all stacked and ready for counting. Further, the Indus seals don't show a lot of use-wear, compared to Mesopotamian versions. That may mean that it wasn't the seal's impression in clay that was important, but rather the seal itself that was meaningful.
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What Does the Indus Script Represent?
Examples of the 4500 year old Indus script on seals and tablets. Image courtesy of J.M. Kenoyer / Harappa.com
So if the seals weren't necessarily stamps, then they don't necessarily have to include information about the contents of a jar or package being sent to a far away land. Which is really too bad for us—decipherment would somewhat easier if we know or could guess that the glyphs represent something that might be shipped in a jar (Harappans grew wheat, barley, and rice, among other things) or that part of the glyphs might be numbers or place names.
Since the seals aren't necessarily stamp seals, do the glyphs have to represent language at all? Well, the glyphs do recur. There's a fish-like glyph and a grid and a diamond shape and a u-shape thing with wings sometimes called a double-reed that are all found repeatedly in Indus scripts, whether on seals or on pottery sherds.
What Rao and his associates did was try to find out if the number and occurrence pattern of glyphs was repetitive, but not too repetitive. You see, language is structured, but not rigidly so. Some other cultures have glyphic representations that are considered not language, because they appear randomly, like the Vinč inscriptions of southeastern Europe. Others are rigidly patterned, like a Near Eastern pantheon list, with always the head god listed first, followed by the second in command, down to the least important. Not a sentence so much as a list.
So Rao, a computer scientist, looked at the way the various symbols are structured on the seals, to see if he could spot a non-random but recurring pattern.
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Comparing Indus Script to Other Ancient Languages
Examples of the 4500 year old Indus script on seals and tablets. Image courtesy of J.M. Kenoyer / Harappa.com
What Rao and his associates did was compare the relative disorder of the glyph positions to that of five types of known natural languages (Sumerian, Old Tamil, Rig Vedic Sanskrit, and English); four types of non-languages (Vinčainscriptions and Near Eastern deity lists, human DNA sequences and bacterial protein sequences); and an artificially-created language (Fortran).
They found that, indeed, the occurrence of glyphs is both non-random and patterned, but not rigidly so, and the characteristic of that language falls within the same non-randomness and lack of rigidity as recognized languages.
It may be that we will never crack the code of the ancient Indus. The reason we could crack Egyptian hieroglyphs and Akkadian rests primarily on the availability of the multi-language texts of the Rosetta Stone and the Behistun Inscription. The Mycenaean Linear B was cracked using tens of thousands of inscriptions. But, what Rao has done gives us hope that one day, maybe somebody like Asko Parpola may crack the Indus script.
It is well-known that Egyptian hieroglyphs also started as a system of tokens to document product lists produced by artisans. For example, bone and ivory tags and clay seal impressions which bore hieroglyphs unearthed at Abydos, 300 miles south of Cairo (dated ca. 3400 and 3200 B.C.E), making them the oldest known examples of Egyptian writing system. Were the scribes of these bone and ivory tags illiterates? (cf. Larkin Mitchell, 1999, Earliest Egyptian Glyphs, in: Archaeology Archive, Volume 52 Number 2, March/April 1999).
Location of Nausharo in relation to other sites of Sarasvati (Indus) Civilization
Crucible steel button. Steel smelted from iron sand in a graphite crucible.https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crucible_steel_button.jpg
Bottom view of same along with a stand alone bull from what's today Balochistan showing similar techinique of manufacture.
Zebu, bos indicus PLUS black drongo bird (perched on the back of the bull) This bird is called పసులపోలిగాడు pasula-pōli-gāḍu 'friend of cattle'.:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/rao4HR-56a021705f9b58eba4af1a4b.jpg)
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Examples of the 4500 year old Indus script on seals and tablets. Image courtesy of J.M. Kenoyer / Harappa.com:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/rao3HR-56a0216f5f9b58eba4af1a48.jpg)
Examples of the 4500 year old Indus script on seals and tablets. Image courtesy of J.M. Kenoyer / Harappa.com:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/rao5HR-56a0216f5f9b58eba4af1a3f.jpg)
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