Decoding antiquity: Eight scripts that still can't be read


	Decoding antiquity: Eight scripts that still can't be read
clip-on-tie
5-27-2009 5:36 PM
523 views
tags:
ancient scripts
clip-on-tie says:
"What do you do when you dig up an ancient inscription, but don't know what it means? New Scientist takes a tour of the world's tantalisingly undeciphered writings."

Entire article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227106.000-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html?full=true
6 Comments |
Add a Comment
5-27-2009 8:21 PM
Efrain Alvarado
Thanks for that. Very interesting.
5-27-2009 9:25 PM
tanyamm
I love clips like this.
5-28-2009 12:43 AM
merrie
Thanks clip, excellent find.
Ancient languages and archaeology is so intriguing.
5-28-2009 1:27 AM
Deepti
I wonder what these different ancient people wanted to share with the world......
5-28-2009 2:27 AM
tazmanium
Mesmerizing!
5-28-2009 5:22 PM
jay8h
Wow!
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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/e67c7dc6-ca10-4ece-80bd-e519542d6941/07E0E062-F15D-4E3B-93A2-EF9504A703AE/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/0-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" href="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/0-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/0-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html">The Etruscan Alphabet - Shown here are two of three gold plaques from Pyrgi, circa 500BC. 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It is inscribed with the letters of a "model" alphabet borrowed from the Greek Alphabet (Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)" /></div></blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/2-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" href="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/2-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/2-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html">The Rosetta Stone at the British Museum. </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/2-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.newscientist.com/img/5AD4C5DB-F896-45C8-AE7B-8513F5CB30ED" alt="The Rosetta Stone at the British Museum. French orientalist Jean-Francois Champollion used the work already done on deciphering the bilingual Rosetta Stone as a building block, and managed to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs (Image: Per Lindgren / Rex Features)" /></div></blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/3-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" href="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/3-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/3-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html">Meroitic script, from an Egyptian tomb painting from the Theban tomb chapel of Sobekhotep.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/3-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.newscientist.com/img/119EC8DB-8DE1-486F-A1D0-3BD5EB44D3A9" alt="Meroitic script, from an Egyptian tomb painting from the Theban tomb chapel of Sobekhotep. It shows Nubians presenting exptic gifts to the Pharoh Tuthmosis IV (1419 - 1386 BC) (Image: British Museum, London)" /></div></blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/4-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" href="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/4-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/4-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html">An unusual Isthmian statuette made of jade, ploughed into a field in the Olmec area.  The figure is a man dressed as a duck and is inscribed with 70 unknown symbols </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/4-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.newscientist.com/img/559CDC1B-374C-4F17-92C1-BBBD9D51B50B" alt="An unusual Isthmian statuette made of jade, ploughed into a field in the Olmec area.  The figure is a man dressed as a duck and is inscribed with 70 unknown symbols (Image: Kenneth Garrett / NGS)" /></div></blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/5-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" href="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/5-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/5-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html">Linear A script etched into a clay tablet</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/5-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.newscientist.com/img/3E254910-F3FF-46A6-931A-17D9D357D060" alt="Linear A script etched into a clay tablet (Image: The Art Archive / Heraklion Museum / Dagli Orti)" /></div></blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/6-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" href="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/6-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/6-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html">Rongo-rongo script, as seen on the Mamari tablet </blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/6-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.newscientist.com/img/9CAC60B8-10CF-4D64-A1AA-7E8E955FC94F" alt="Rongo-rongo script, as seen on the Mamari tablet (Image: Padri Dei Sccri Cuori (SSCC), Rome)" /></div></blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/7-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" href="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/7-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/7-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html">Indus script is a long way from being deciphered.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/7-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.newscientist.com/img/4BDA01F5-0660-499D-89FE-7562C6E63104" alt="Indus script is a long way from being deciphered. Popular symbols within this script include the fish, as seen in this image (Image: Erja Lahdenperä, University of Helsinki / courtesy of the Archaeological Survey of India)" /></div></blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/8-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" href="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/8-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/8-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html">15-centimetre disc is possibly the world's oldest printed document</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/8-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html"><div align="center"><img src="http://content6.clipmarks.com/blog_cache/www.newscientist.com/img/3B0C47F9-F42F-480B-8321-E9AC2CF96862" alt="This 15-centimetre disc is possibly the world's oldest printed document, though some regard it as a hoax (Image: The Art Archive / Heraklion Museum / Dagli Orti)" /></div></blockquote><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/clip-icon.gif" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/9-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" href="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/9-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html" style="font-size: 11px;">www.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://www.newscientist.com/articleimages/mg20227106.000/9-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html"><DIV id="galstrap"><P class="lowlight">The ancient scripts</p> </DIV>
<DIV class="centercopy" id="galimg">
<A href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227106.000-decoding-antiquity-eight-scripts-that-still-cant-be-read.html">
<IMG alt="The ancient scripts" src="http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/archive/2710/27106001.jpg" /></A></DIV></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/07E0E062-F15D-4E3B-93A2-EF9504A703AE/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content8.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>
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