https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Bharhut_Stupa_Yavana_symbolism.jpg/250px-Bharhut_Stupa_Yavana_symbolism.jpg

The top of the Greek soldier of Bharhut has an inscription.classified as Inscription 55 in the Pillars of Railing of the SW Quadrant at Bharhut (The Stupa of Bharhut, Cunningham, p. 136), is in the Brahmi script and reads from left to right:

Inscription 55 in the Pillars of Railing of the SW Quadrant at Bharhut.
Transliteration and translation: "Bhadanta Mahilasa thabho dânam"

Bronze head of an Akkadian ruler -- made using cire-purdue (lost-wax technique)--, discovered in Nineveh in 1931, presumably depicting either Sargon or Sargon's grandson Naram-Sin (M. E. L. Mallowan, "The Bronze Head of the Akkadian Period from Nineveh", Iraq Vol. 3, No. 1 (1936), 104–110.)

Akkadian Empire

 Decipherment: kuṭi‘water-carrier’ rebus: kuṭhi‘smelter’; star मेढ [ mēḍha ] The polar star (Marathi). [cf.The eight-pointed star Rebus: mẽṛhẽt, meḍ ‘iron’ (Mu.Ho.)meḍ 'iron' (Mundari.Remo.) dula ‘pair’ rebus: dul ‘metal casting’. kuṛī f. ‘fireplace’ (H.); krvṛI f. ‘granary (WPah.); kuṛī, kuṛo house, building’(Ku.)(CDIAL 3232) kuṭi ‘hut made of boughs’ (Skt.) guḍi temple (Telugu) The unique shape of iron ingots formed by kolhe smelters is an equilateral lozenge-shaped lump, a little pointed at each of four ends. This explains the signifier of 'angle' on sign variants of lozenge-shaped (or rhombus-shaped). 

mūhā parenthesis/split ellipse (orthography), signifies rebus: mūhā 'ingot' (semantics). mūhā mẽṛhẽt = iron smelted by the Kolhes and formed into an equilateral lump a little pointed at each of four ends (Santali)

Signs of Indus Script Corpora

m443A

m443B

Dilmun seal from Bahrain.

Fig. 5a-f bull-man holding/touching a ‘ritual’ object or a branch; Fig 5c, d  bull-man standing ‘above’ an animal; Fig. 5a-f : bull-man holding/touching a ‘ritual’ object or a branch

 

ib'iron'' (Santali) karba 'iron'; ajirda karba 'native metal iron' (Tulu) karabha 'trunk of elephant' Rebus: karba 'iron' ibha 'elephant' Rebus: ib 'iron ore' (Santali) The gloss ajirda (Tulu) is cognate with aduru, ayas. Hence, it is likely that the gloss ayas of Rigveda signifies native, unsmelted metal of iron ore. Glazed steatite . Cylinder seal. 3.4cm high; imported from Indus valley. Rhinoceros, elephant, crocodile (lizard? ).Tell Asmar (Eshnunna), Iraq. Elephant, rhinoceros, crocodile hieroglyphs: ib 'elephant' Rebus: ib 'iron' kANDa 'rhinoceros' Rebus: kANDa 'iron implements' karA 'crocodile' Rebus: khAr 'blacksmith' (Kashmiri)

cat. no. 221“221. Stamp seal with a boat scene. Steatite. L. 2 cm, w. 1.9 cm Gulf region, Failaka, F6 758 early Dilmun, ca. 2000-1800 BCE National Council of Culture, Arts, and Letters, Kuwait National Museum, 1129 ADY. This seal from Failaka island, at the head of the Gulf, is unusual in shape, as it is square rather than circular possibly alluding to the most common form of Harappan seals. The subject is a nude male figure standing in the middle of a flat-bottomed boat, facing right. The man’s arms are bent at the elbow, perpendicular to his torso. Beside him two jars stand on the deck of the boat, each containing a long pole to which is attached a hatched square that perhaps represents a banner. Flat-bottomed vessels with a single sail were used to transport cargoes in shallow tidal waters, but the one illustrated on this seal lacks a sail. If the two vertical posts on the stern are interpreted as steering paddles, then it resembles a model found in India at Lothal, which appears to have had square sails. Although the seal’s shape is atypical, all the decorative elements, including the boat and the two jars, find parallels on other seals from Dilmun, indicating that this one was made in the region where it was found.” (Note: On the Lothal boat model, three blind holes used as sockets may have held the masts of square-shaped sails.)(Art of the First Cities: The Third Millennium B.C. from the Mediterranean to the Indus, Metropolitan Museum of Art, pp.322-323)

 Early Near Eastern Seals in the Yale Babylonian Collection, by Briggs Buchanan, with introduction and seal inscriptions by William W. Hallo, edited by Ulla Kasten. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1981. 

Uruk-period seal (NBC 2579).

Seal no. 79 Persian gulf cylinder seal with seated person. Burnt steatite. H. 2.7 cm, dia 1.4 cm; string hole .3 cm Late 3^rd-early 2^nd millennium BCE Sb 1383 Excavated by Mecquenem. “The Mesopotamian influence on glyptic from the Persian gulf area is very clearly demonstrated in this example, one of the few cylinder seals executed in this distinctive style. Close parallels are found at Failaka, in the Gulf. Adopted here are not only the Mesopotamian cylinder-seal shape but also the theme of a worshipper standing before a seated horned deity in a flounced (?) garment and a version of the context scene with crossed animals. Pecular iconographic details also appear, however, such as the nude worshipper with his hand in a pot; the two ‘master of animals’, one nude and one kilted, grasping the animals’ necks; and the snake framing the scene from above. Glyptic and textual evidence suggests that the cities of Susa and Ur were trading centers in close contact with ancient Dilmun, located in the Persian Gulf. This contact, however, does not seem to have been limited to an exchange of goods. Francois Vallat has noted, the chief god of Dilmun, was one of a triad of deities worshipped on the Susa Acropole in the eighteenth century BCE. Persian Gulf-style seals found at Susa and other foreign sites with Mesopotamian and Indus-derived themes incorporated into their iconography were created, some scholars believe, for Dilmunite traders living abroad.” (The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre By Musée du Louvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992, p.120) 

A bun-ingot flanked by two goats: mlekh 'goat' rebus: milakkhu 'copper' dula 'pair' rebus: dul 'metal casting' PLUS muh ingot

Thus copper ingot. The dotted circles and three lines on the boss: dhAv 'strand' rebus: dhAv, dhAtu 'mineral' kolom 'three' rebus: kolimi 'smithy, forge' tri-dhAtu 'three strands' rebus: three minerals. Thus the seal signifies a copper mineral cast ingot and a smithy/forge working with three minerals, tridhAtu. Seal of the old Elamite period in Metmuseum cat. no. 78 Persian Gulf stamp seal with two caprids. Burnt steatite. 2.2 cm. dia, .8 cm ht. Late 3^rd -early 2^nd millennium BCE Sb1015 Excavated by Mecquenem

The Royal City of Susa: Ancient Near Eastern Treasures in the Louvre By Musée du Louvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1992 “Many objects found at Susa reflect contacts with the Persian Gulf region…A mercantile document and a basket sealing were stamped with Gulf-style seals. Elamite imitations of Gulf seals were made in the local bitumen compound. Perhaps the most characteristic type of Persian Gulf seal is illustrated by this piece, one of four burnt, (whitened) steatite stamp seals found at Susa that have distinctive grooves and dot circles incised on a raised boss on the back. The face of this seal is engraved with the figures of two goats crouching head to foot on opposite sides of the circular field, the center of which is marked by a lozenge. Their slightly modeled bodies are defined by a curving outline, and distinctive details, such as large dot-circle eyes and striated necks, are sharply cut. Similar seals are known mainly from the Gulf region (and one example was found at Lothal in India). They were also exported to, and imitated at, the southern Mesopotamian city of Ur, a site with cuneiform texts that refer to the import of copper, semiprecious stones, and perhaps pearls from Dilmun. They are datable to the end of the third and the beginning of the second millennium BCE. That is the period when one elaborate Persian Gulf seal depicting a a Mesopotamian-derived ‘banquet scene’ was stamped on an old Babylonian contract between two merchants. The tablet, written in the time of Gungunum, ruler of Larsa in the late twentieth century BCE, is in the Yale Babylonian Collection. The document from Susa mentioning a Dilmunite merchant and ten minas of copper dates to the same period.” (p.119)

Sign 184 variants (Mahadevan ASI 1977 Concordance sign list) 

Hieroglyph 'rim-of-jar' signifies rebus karaṇika 'scribe', karaṇī 'supercargo'.

Cuneiform text on Indus Seal, cursive writing on gold pendant used as stylus for writing and notes on hypertexts of an early writing system 

https://tinyurl.com/y9lbeenj

SM Katre (1941) refers to a cuneiform inscription on an Indus silver artefact. This is contradicted by John Marshall (1931). But, there is an Indus Seal with a cuneiform inscription found in Ur, noted by CJ Gadd (1932) which indicates that Indus Script was used to signify a hypertext of a 'bull' (barad, 'bull' rebus: bharata 'alloy copper, pewter, tin) while cuneiform syllabary was used to signify the 'profession' --sag-kusida, 'money-lender'-- of the seal-holder.

“Another fact connected with Mohenjo Daro but strangely omitted from the official reports is the discovery of a piece of silver, bearing the number DK 1341 (NS9), made by Rao Bahadur (then Mr.) KN Dikshit, on the 1^st of January 1926, on both sides of which he noted the occurrence of cuneiform punches. This silver piece is the earliest known cuneiform inscription or writing found in India, and will form part of the work of a future palaeographist who will have to revise the now classical treatise of Buhler (Indische Palaeographie, Strassburg, 1896).”(SM Katre, 1941, Introduction to Indian Txtual criticism, p.3)


Gold jewellery, Mohenjodaro (After Marshall, Pl. CXLVIII).

The jewellery was found in a silver vase. The large necklace is made up of barrel-shaped beads of a translucent, light-green jade. Each jade bead is separated from its neighbours on either side by five disc-shaped gold beads, 0.4 in. dia made by soldering two cap-like pieces together. Seven pendants of agate-jasper are suspended by means of a thick gold wire. The pendants are separated one from another by a small cylindrical bead of steatite capped at each end with gold. The smaller necklace (No. 7) inside the large one is made up of small globular gold beads, all of which are cast. The spacers were made by soldering two of these beads together, and it is probable that the beads were originally strung into a bracelet of two rows.  The two bangles (Nos. 1 and 4) were each made of thin sheet gold wrapped over a core (dia. 3 in.) No.2 is a conical gold cap (1.3 in. high) beaten out from a plate of gold; it is perhaps a hair ornament. 

Two silver bracelets were also found with this hoard. (Marshall, Pl. CLXIV)

Silver vase, Mohenjodaro (After Marshall, Pl. CXLVIII). The silver vase contained gold jewellery.

“The jewellery illustrated in Pl. CXLVIII,a, was found in the silver vessel (DK 1341), illustrated on the right of the plate, which was unearthed by Mr. Dikshit in a long trench that he dug to connect up sections B and C in the DK Area…Together with these strings of beads several rough pieces of silver were found, one of which bears chisel-marks remarkably like cuneiform characters. A cast of this piece was submitted to Mr. Sidney Smith, of the British Museum, who, however, could not identify any definite sign upon it. This fragment, which measures 0.95 by 0.9 by 0.25 inch, is part of a bar, from which it was shaped after both ends had been struck with a broad chisel.” (John Marshall, 1931, Mohenjo-daro, p.519)

“It is known for certain that seals and sealings of this class were carried thither by trade from Indus valley in ancient times, and one such seal has already been found (at ur) with a cuneiform in place of an ‘Indus’ inscription. (Mr. CL Woolley in Antiquaries’ Journal, 1928, p.26 and pl. xi,2)”(John Marshall, 1931, Mohenjo-daro, p.406)

I have not had access to the illustration on Pl. XI,2 of CL Woolley's article referred by John Marshall. I think he is referring to the following seal with a cuneiform text:

Note on cursive writing of Indus Script hypertext on a gold pendant

This 2.5 inch long gold pendant has a 0.3 inch nib; its ending is shaped like a sewing or netting needle. It bears an inscription painted in Indus Script. This inscription is deciphered as a proclamation of metalwork competence.

Hieroglyph: ib 'needle' Ta. irumpu iron, instrument, weapon. Ma. irumpu, irimpu iron. Ko. ib id. To. ib needle. Koḍ. irïmbï iron. Te. inumu id. Kol. (Kin.) inum (pl. inmul) iron, sword. Kui (Friend-Pereira) rumba vaḍi ironstone (for vaḍi, see 5285).(DEDR 556) Rebus: ib 'iron'

3 Gold pendants: Jewelry Marshall 1931: 521, pl. CLI, B3

The comments made by John Marshall on three curious objects at bottom right-hand corner of Pl. CLI, B3: “Personal ornaments…Jewellery and Necklaces…Netting needles (?) Three very curious objects found with the studs and the necklace appear to be netting needles of gold. They are shown just above the ear-studs and also in the lower right-hand corner of Pl. CLI, B, 3-5 and 12-14. The largest of these needles (E 2044a) is 2.5 inches long. The handle is hollow and cylindrical and tapers slightly, being 0.2 inch in diameter at the needle-end. The needle point is 0.5 inch long and has a roughly shaped oval eye at its base. The medium sized needle (E 2044b) is 2.5 inches long and of the same pattern: but the cap that closed the end of the handle is now missing. The point which has an oval eye at its base is 0.3 inch long. The third needle (E 2044c) is only 1.7 inches long with the point 0.3 inch in length. Its handle, which is otherwise similar to those of the other two needles, is badly dented. The exact use of these three objects is open to question, for they could have been used for either sewing or netting. The handles seem to have been drawn, as there is no sign of a soldered line, but the caps at either end were soldered on with an alloy that is very little lighter in colour than the gold itself. The two smaller needles have evidently been held between the teeth on more than one occasion.” (p.521)

Evidently, Marshall has missed out on the incription written in paint, as a free-hand writing, over one of the objects: Pl. CLI, B3.

This is an extraordinary evidence of the Indus writing system written down, with hieroglyphs inscribed using a coloured paint, on an object.

Gold pendant with Indus script inscription. The pendant is needle-like with cylindrical body. It is made from a hollow cylinder with soldered ends and perforated joint. Museum No. MM 1374.50.271; Marshall 1931: 521, pl. CLI, B3 (After Fig. 4.17 a,b in: JM Kenoyer, 1998, p. 196).

ib 'needle' rebus: ib 'iron'

kanac 'corner' Rebus: kancu 'bronze'; sal 'splinter' Rebus: sal 'workshop'; dhatu 'cross road' Rebus: dhatu 'mineral'; gaNDa 'four' Rebus: khanda 'implements'; kolmo 'three' Rebus: kolami 'smithy, forge'; Vikalpa: ?ea ‘seven’ (Santali); rebus: ?eh-ku ‘steel’ (Te.)

aya 'fish' Rebus: aya 'iron'(Gujarati) ayas 'metal' (Rigveda)

Thus, the inscription is: ib kancu sal (iron, bronze workshop), dhatu aya kaṇḍ kolami mineral, metal, furnace/fire-altar smithy. The hypertext message is: artisan with iron, bronze workshop, (competence in working with) minerals,metals, furnace/fire-altar, smithy/forge.

The inscription is a professional calling card -- describing professional competence and ownership of specified items of property -- of the wearer of the pendant.

What could these three objects be? Sewing needles? Netting needles?

सूची a [p= 1241,1] f. (prob. to be connected with सूत्र , स्यूत &c fr. √ सिव् , " to sew " cf. सूक्ष्म ; in R. once सूचिना instr.) , a needle or any sharp-pointed instrument (e.g. " a needle used in surgery " , " a magnet " &c ) RV. &c. See: http://bharatkalyan97.blogspot.in/2017/09/a-short-note-on-iconography-of-sindhu.html 

A short note on the iconography of Sindhu Seals -- Mrugendra Vinod

Mrugendra Vinod links the needle to an Ashvamedha reference:

The gold needles are found in Mohen jo Daro. They are explicitly referred to in Ashvamedha Ritual. (Ref.7)

Ref. 7 यत्सूच न्नर्रन्नसपिातकल्पयन्नति।----िय्याः सूच्यो र्वन्नति। अयस्िय्यो रजिा हररण्याः। तै .ब्रा.3.9.6

I do not know the explanation for the reference to and use of सूची in the Taittirīya Brāhmaṇa in the context of Ashvamedha yajña.

ஊசி¹ ūci

, n. < sūcī. 1. Sewing-needle; தையலூசி. (பிங்.). 2. Iron style for writing on palmyra leaves; எழுத்தாணி. பொன்னோலை செம் பொ னூசியா லெழுதி (சீவக. 369)

I surmise that all the three gold objects could be pendants tagged to other jewellery such as necklaces. 

The pendants were perhaps worn with a thread of fibre passing through the eye of the needle-like ending of the pendants and used as stylus for writing.

Why needle-like endings? Maybe, the pendants were used as 'writing' devices 1) either to engrave hieroglyphs into objects; 2)or to use the needle-ending like a metal nib to dip into a colored ink or liquid or zinc-oxide paste or cinnabar-paste. This possibility is suggested by the use of cinnabar in ancient China to paint into lacquer plates or bowls. Cinnabar or powdered mercury sulphide was the primary colorant lof lacquer vessels. "Known in China during the late Neolithic period (ca. 5000–ca. 2000 B.C.), lacquer was an important artistic medium from the sixth century B.C. to the second century A.D. and was often colored with minerals such as carbon (black), orpiment (yellow), and cinnabar (red) and used to paint the surfaces of sculptures and vessels...a red lacquer background is carved with thin lines that are filled with gold, gold powder, or lacquer that has been tinted black, green, or yellow." http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2009/cinnabar

Vikalpa: sūcīˊ’needle’ rebus: sūcika ‘tailor’

*sūcikāgharikā ʻ needle -- case ʼ. [Cf. sūcigr̥haka -- n. lex. -- sūcīˊ -- , ghara -- ]
Ku. suyārī, siyã̄rī ʻ needle bag ʼ.(CDIAL 13550) sūcīˊ f. ʻ needle ʼ RV., sūcí -- m. R. (f. Kālid. lex.), sūcikā -- f. lex.: v.l. śucĭ̄ -- . 2. *sūñcī -- . [Kaf. forms with č -- and Kho š -- can be explained as assimilation of s -- č, but Ash. points to IA. ś -- . If originally IA. had śūci -- (agreeing with Pahl. sūčan, Pers. sōzen), ś -- was perh. replaced by s -- through the influence of sīˊvyati, sūˊtra -- . Cf. similar influence of verb ʻ to sew ʼ in N.] 1. Pa. sūci -- , °ikā -- f. ʻ needle ʼ, Pk. sūī -- f., Gy. eur. suv, pl. suvya f., pal. suʻ , as. siv, Ḍ. sūiya f., Ash. arċūˊċ (ar -- < āˊrā -- ); Kt. čim -- čič ʻ iron needle ʼ, p -- čič ʻ thread ʼ; Paš.ar. sūī ʻ needle ʼ, chil. sūĩ, kuṛ. sũī, Shum. suīˊ, Gaw. suī˜, Kal.rumb. suš (< *suž with -- š carried into obl. sūšuna), urt. sužīk, Bshk. sū̃ī; Sh.gil. sū f. ʻ needle, pine needle ʼ, koh. sū̃ f., gur. sūw f.; K. suyu m. ʻ needle ʼ, suwa m. ʻ large pack -- needle ʼ; S. suī f. ʻ needle ʼ, suo m. ʻ pack -- needle ʼ, L.awāṇ. P. sūī f., sūā m., N. siyo (X siunu < sīvayati), B. sui, sũi, chũi, Or. sui, Bi. sūī, Mth. sui, Bhoj. suī, sūwā ʻ large needle ʼ, Aw.lakh. sūī, H. sūī f., sūā m., G. soy f., soyɔ, soiyɔ m., M. sū, sūī f., Ko. sū, suvva, Si. (h)ida, st. (h)idi -- . -- Ext. -- ḍ -- : S. suiṛī f. ʻ tattooing needle ʼ; Ku. syūṛo ʻ needle ʼ, gng. śwīṛ; N. suiro ʻ needle, goad, blade of grass ʼ.2. Wg. čunċ ʻ needle ʼ, Dm. čū̃či (NTS xii 163 < *šū̃či), Paš.dar. weg. sū˘nčék, gul. čánčak, Kho. šunǰ, B. sũc, suc, chũc, Or. suñci, chuñci, H. chū̃chī f.; Si. hin̆du ʻ porcupine quill ʼ. -- K. saċ m. ʻ large pack -- needle ʼ,saċan f. ʻ needle ʼ ← Ir., cf. Wkh. siċ, Pahl. sūčan.sūcika -- , *sūcya -- , saucika -- ; *sūcikāgharikā -- .*sūcya -- ʻ tailor ʼ see sūcika -- .Addenda: sūcīˊ -- [Cf. Ir. *sūčī -- in Shgh. X. Rosh. siǰ f. ʻ needle ʼ EVSh 73; also Pahl. sūčan id.]: deriv. WPah.kṭg. súɔ ʻ large needle ʼ. -- In line 2 read v.l. śūcĭ̄ -- .(CDIAL 13551)M. suċṇẽ ʻ to come to mind ʼ, sucẽ n. ʻ hint, suggestion ʼ, caus. Or. sucāibā ʻ to remind ʼ, G. sucavvũ ʻ to hint ʼ, rather than < śúcyati; -- WPah.kc. sunċṇo ʻ to consider ʼ, A. xusāiba rather < †samarthyatē? (J.C.W.)(CDIAL 13551a)1. WPah. (Joshi) sūī m. ʻ tailor ʼ, OG. suī m. (whence saïyaṇi f. ʻ his wife ʼ), G. soi, saī m. (or < 2).2. P. soī m. ʻ tailor ʼ, G. see 1.3. K. saċ m. ʻ tailor ʼ?Addenda: sūcika -- . 2. saucika -- : WPah.kṭg. sói m. ʻ tailor ʼ.(CDIAL 13549)

Rebus: sūcika m. ʻ tailor ʼ VarBr̥S. 2. saucika -- m. Kull. 3. *sūcya -- . [sūcīˊ -- ] ஊசி¹ ūci

, n. < sūcī. 1. Sewing-needle; தையலூசி. (பிங்.). 2. Iron style for writing on palmyra leaves; எழுத்தாணி. பொன்னோலை செம் பொ னூசியா லெழுதி (சீவக. 369)

Rebus: †sūcyatē ʻ is indicated ʼ Kāv., sūcya -- ʻ to be communicated ʼ Sāh. [Pass. of sūcayati ʻ indicates ʼ Up., Pk. suēi, suaï. -- Denom. fr. Pk. sūā -- f. ʻ indication ʼ, Sk. sūcā -- f. Buddh. -- Poss. < śūkā -- f. (ʻ sting ʼ Suśr., ʻ scruple, doubt ʼ lex.) ~ śūcĭ̄ -- . -- śūka -- ?]

Annex A Decipherment of a bilingual stamp seal from Ur?

This may be called Gadd Seal 1 of Ur since this was the first item on the Plates of figures included in his paper.

Introduction

Seal impression and reverse of seal from Ur (U.7683; BM 120573); image of bison and cuneiform inscription; cf. Mitchell 1986: 280-1 no.7 and fig. 111; Parpola, 1994, p. 131: signs may be read as (1) sag(k) or ka, (2) ku or lu orma, and (3) zi or ba (4)?. The commonest value: sag-ku-zi

Gadd, CJ, 1932, Seals of ancient Indian style found at Ur, in: Proceedings of the British Academy, XVIII, 1932, Plate 1, no. 1. Gadd considered this an Indus seal because, 1) it was a square seal, comparable to hundreds of other Indus seals since it had a small pierced boss at the back through which a cord passed through for the owner to hold the seal in his or her possession; and 2) it had a hieroglyph of an ox, a characteristic animal hieroglyph deployed on hundreds of seals.

This classic paper by Cyril John Gadd F.B.A. who was a Professor Emeritus of Ancient Semitic Languages and Civilizations, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, opened up a new series of archaeological studies related to the trade contacts between Ancient Far East and what is now called Sarasvati-Sindhu (Hindu) civilization. 

There is now consensus that Meluhhan communities were present in Ur III and also in Sumer/Elam/Mesopotamia. (Parpola S., A. Parpola & RH Brunswig, Jr., 1977, The Meluhha village. Evidence of acculturation of Harappan traders in the late Third Millennium Mesopotamia in: Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient, 20, 129-165.) 

Use of rebus-metonymy layered cipher for the entire Indus Script Corpora as metalwork catalogs provides the framework for reopening the investigation afresh on the semantics of the cuneiform text on Gadd Seal 1, the Indus seal with cuneiform text.

This is a remarkable square seal from Ur, with cuneiform script together with a bison/bull/ox hieroglyph. Assigned to the pre-Sargonic period, this is perhaps a seal of a Meluhha (Indus) merchant. Gadd lists 18 seals from Ur and sites in Babylonia, witn Indus-type writing system. Gadd Seal No. 2 is of circular shape with a button boss, perhaps of Persian Gulf origin (perhaps belongs to a Meluhha merchant in Bahrain). This seal plus seal nos. 3,4,5,15,16,17 have Indus script motifs and hieroglyphs. Seal no. 6 is cylindrical and Sumerian with hieroglyphs of zebu, scorpion, and other Indus Script hieroglyphs. Seal no. 7 has kuTi, 'tree' Indus Script hieroglyph (which signifies rebus kuThi 'smelter'). Seal no. 8 is Sumerian and perhaps relates to a Bahrain merchant who holds a goat (mlekh 'goat' rebus: milakkhu 'copper'), an Indus script hieroglyph. Seals 9,10,11, 12,13,14 are perhaps from Bahrain of a Meluhha merchant. Seal no. 15 was found with carnelian, steatite and copper beads in a Sargonid period grave, and is a Persian Gulf seal attributable to contacts with Sarasvati riverbasin (Gujarat carnelian in particular). Seal No. 16,17,18 are clearly those of Meluhha merchants in Bahrain. Seals found at Kish, Gawra and Asmar are of Indus Script corpora. Briggs Buchanan assigns Seal nos. 2,3,4,5 and 16 to Indus seal type I, a type which includes circular seals but with Indus script on the obverse. Seal no. 15 is categorised in type II as a crude Indus script imitation while seal no. 16 is categorised in type III as Persian Gulf Bahrain seal of the type found in Lothal and also Failaka. This tablet assigned to 10^th year of Gungunum of Larsa (1923 BCE) is stamped by an Indus Script seal of type III in Buchanan classification of Persian Gulf seals.

Seal impression and reverse of seal (with pierced lug handle) from Ur (U.7683; BM 120573); image of bison and cuneiform inscription; length 2.7, width 2.4, ht. 1.1 cm. cf. Gadd, PBA 18 (1932), pp. 5-6, pl. I, no.1;  Mitchell 1986: 280-1 no.7 and fig. 111; Parpola, 1994, p. 131: signs may be read as (1) sag(k) or ka, (2) ku or lu or ma, and (3) zi or ba (4)?. SAG.KU(?).IGI.X or SAG.KU(?).P(AD)(?) The commonest value: sag-ku-zi     

While SAG is a Sumerian word meaning 'head, principal' (detailed below), KUSIDA is a Meluhha word well-attested semantically in ancient Indian sprachbund of 4th millennium BCE. The semantics of the Meluhha gloss, kusida signifies: money-lender. Thus SAG KUSIDA is a combined Sumerian-Meluhha phrase signifying 'principal of chief money-lender'. This could be a clear instance of Sumerian/Akkadian/Proto-Indian borrowings in both directions, founded on basic Meluhha glosses.

SAG KUSIDA + ox hieroglyphon Gadd Seal 1, read rebus signifies: principal money-lender for bharata metal alloy artisans. This reading is consistent with the finding that the entire Indus Script Corpora are metalwork catalogs.

The money-lender who was the owner of the seal might have created seal impressions as his or her signature on contracts for moneys lent for trade transactions of seafaring merchants of Meluhha.

The Gadd Seal 1 of Ur is thus an example of acculturation of Sumerians/Akkadians in Ur with the Indus writing system and underlying Meluhha language of Meluhha seafaring merchants and Meluhha communities settled in Ur and other parts of Ancient Near East.

Meaning of SAG 'head, principal' (Sumerian)

The Sumerians called themselves sag-giga, literally meaning "the black-headed people"

Cuneiform sign SAG

phonetic values

·         Sumerian: SAG, SUR₁₄

·         Akkadian: šag, šak, šaq, riš

sign evolution

1. the pictogram as it was drawn around 3000 BC;

2. the rotated pictogram as written around 2800 BC;

3. the abstracted glyph in archaic monumental inscriptions, from ca. 2600 BC;

4. the sign as written in clay, contemporary to stage 3;

5. late 3rd millennium (Neo-Sumerian);

6. Old Assyrian, early 2nd millennium, as adopted into Hittite;

7. simplified sign as written by Assyrian scribes in the early 1st millennium.

Akkadian Etymology

From Proto-Semitic *raʾš-.

Noun

𒊕 (rēšu, qaqqadu) [SAG]

1.     head (of a person, animal)

2.     top, upper part

3.     beginning

4.     top quality, the best

Sumerian:

 (SAG)

1.     head

Derived terms[edit]

·         SAG(.KAL) "first one"

·         (LÚ.)SAG a palace official

·         ZARAḪ=SAG.PA.LAGAB "lamentation, unrest"

·         SAG.DUL a headgear

·         SAG.KI "front, face, brow"

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%F0%92%8A%95

Sag.ur.Sag is interpreted as “ Chief warrior” (www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/10.1086/677312.pdf http://www.angelfire.com/tx/tintirbabylon/ME.html)

It is unclear if the semantics of Sag can also be related to the following Meluhha (Indian sprachbund, 'language union') etyma:

संगर sangar 'trade, fortification',

SAGH ʻ be strong or able ʼ: saghnṓti, *saghra -- , *asaghra -- ; -- sīˊkṣatē. [Relationship, if any, with √cagh, √śak1, √cak2 is not clear] saṅgá m. ʻ battle ʼ RV., ʻ contact with ʼ TS., ʻ addiction to ʼ Mn. [√sañj]Pa. saṅga -- m. ʻ attachment, cleaving to ʼ, Dhp. ǵ (see sájati: → Khot. a -- ṣaṁga -- H. W. Bailey BSOAS xi 776), Pk. saṁga -- m.; K. sang m. ʻ union ʼ; S. saṅu m. ʻ connexion by marriage ʼ, saṅgu m. ʻ body of pilgrims ʼ; L. saṅg, (Ju.) sãg m. ʻ body of pilgrims or travellers ʼ; P. saṅg m. ʻ id., association ʼ; N. sã̄gi ʻ ritual defilement by contact ʼ (or < *sāṅgiya -- ?); OB. sāṅga ʻ union, coitus ʼ, B. sāṅāt ʻ companion ʼ; Or. sāṅga ʻ company, companion ʼ; H. sãgwānā ʻ to collect ʼ. -- In an obl. case as an adv. (LM 413 < sáṁgata -- ): Phal. saṅgīˊ ʻ with, to ʼ; P. saṅg ʻ along with ʼ, Ku.gng. śaṅ, N. saṅa; Or. sāṅge, saṅge ʻ near, with ʼ; Bhoj. saṅ ʻ with ʼ, H. saṅg, G. sãge, M. sãgẽ. -- In mng. ʻ company of travellers &c. ʼ, though there is no trace of aspirate, poss. < or at least infl. by saṁghá -- .saṅgin -- , *sāṅgaka -- ; niḥsaṅga -- .Addenda: saṅga -- : WPah.kṭg. (kc.) sɔ́ṅg m. ʻ union, companionship ʼ, kṭg. sɔ́ṅge ʻ together (with), simultaneously, with, by ʼ prob. ← H. Him.I 212.(CDIAL 13082)

Meaning of kusīda 'money-lender'

कुशीदम् Usury; see कुसी. कुषीद a. Indifferent, inert. -दम् Usury. कुसितः 1 An inhabited country. -2 One who lives on usury; see कुसीद below. कुसितायी kusitāyī  (= कुसीदायी).कुसी kusī (सि si) द d कुसी (सि) द a. Lazy, slothful. -दः (also written as कुशी-षी-द) A monkey-lender, usurer; Mbh.4.29. -दम् 1 Any loan or thing lent to be repaid with in- terest. -2 Lending money, usury, the profession of usury; कुसीदाद् दारिद्र्यं परकरगतग्रन्थिशमनात् Pt.1.11; Ms. 1.9;8.41; Y.1.119. -3 Red sandal wood. -Comp. -पथः usury, usurious interest; any interest exceeding 5 per cent; कृतानुसारादधिका व्यतिरिक्ता न सिध्यति कुसीदपथमा- हुस्तम् (पञ्चकं शतमर्हति) Ms.8.152. -वृद्धिः f. interest on money; कुसीदवृद्धिर्द्वैगुण्यं नात्येति सकृदाहृता Ms.8.151. कुसीदा kusīdā  कुसीदा A female usurer. कुसीदायी kusīdāyī कुसीदायी The wife of a usurer. कुसीदिकः kusīdikḥ कुसीदिन् kusīdin कुसीदिकः कुसीदिन् m. A usurer.  (Samskritam. Apte) kúsīda ʻ lazy, inert ʼ TS. Pa. kusīta -- ʻ lazy ʼ, kōsajja -- n. ʻ sloth ʼ (EWA i 247 < *kausadya -- ?); Si. kusī ʻ weariness ʼ ES 26, but rather ← Pa.(CDIAL 3376). FBJ Kuiper identifies as a 'borrowed' word in Indo-Aryan which in the context of Indus Script decipherment is denoted by Meluhha as Proto-Prakritam: the gloss kusīda 'money-lender'. (Kuiper, FBJ, 1948, Proto-Munda words in Sanskrit, Amsterdam: Noord-Hollandsche Uit. Mij.; Kuiper, FBJ, 1955, Rigvedic loan-words in: O. Spies (ed.) Studia Indologica. Festschrift fur Willibald Kirfel Vollendung Seines 70. Lebensjahres. Bonn: Orientalisches Seminar; Kuiper, FBJ, 1991, Arans in the Rigveda, Amsterdam-Atlanta: Rodopi).