Writing systems that are yet to be understood From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Many undeciphered writing systems exist today; most date back several thousand years, although some more modern examples do exist. The term "writing systems" is used here loosely to refer to groups of glyphs which appear to have representational symbolic meaning, but which may include "systems" that are largely artistic in nature and are thus not examples of actual writing.
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The difficulty in deciphering these systems can arise from a lack of known language descendants or from the languages being entirely isolated, from insufficient examples of text having been found and even (such as in the case of Vinča) from the question of whether the symbols actually constitute a writing system at all. Some researchers have claimed to be able to decipher certain writing systems, such as those of Epi-Olmec, Phaistos and Indus texts; but to date, these claims have not been widely accepted within the scientific community, or confirmed by independent researchers, for the writing systems listed here (unless otherwise specified).
Certain forms of proto-writing remain undeciphered and, because of a lack of evidence and linguistic descendants, it is quite likely that they will never be deciphered.
Linear A and Cretan hieroglyphs are scripts from an unknown language, one possibility being a yet to be deciphered Minoan language.[1] Several words have been decoded from the scripts, but no definite conclusions on the meanings of the words have been made.
Linear A, c. 1800 BC – 1450 BC, partially deciphered. Phonetic transcriptions can be read with some approximation. Scholars can understand some of the words, and get a general idea of the document's contents.[2]
Ancient inscriptions in Somalia – According to the Ministry of Information and National Guidance of Somalia, inscriptions can be found on various old Taalo Tiiriyaad structures. These are enormous stone mounds found especially in northeastern Somalia. Among the main sites where these Taalo are located are Xabaalo Ambiyad in Alula District, Baar Madhere in Beledweyne District, and Harti Yimid in Las Anod District.[6]
Andean Region
Quipu – Inca Empire and predecessor states, like the Huari Empire or the Caral-Supe Civilization, c. 2600 BC – 20th century. It was used, among other peoples, by Quechua speakers (who called it "Khipu"), Aymara speakers ("Chinu") and Mapuche speakers ("Püron").[7] It could possibly be a writing system or a set of writing systems, since three Quechua words have been recently deciphered: one in 2005 and the other two in 2017. These decipherments apparently show that linguistic usage of Quipus followed a logosyllabic pattern.[8]
Quipu
Mesoamerica
Olmec Hieroglyphs, c. 1000 BC – 400 BC, possibly the mother script or Mesoamerica.[9]
Izapan Hieroglyphs, Late Preclassic, probably an offshoot of Epi-olmec in the Pacific Coast and maybe the direct ancestor to Lowland Maya Hieroglyphs. Probably logosyllabic.[10]
Ñuiñe Hieroglyphs, c. 400 AD – 800 AD. Similar to Zapotec and possibly an offshoot of it in the Mixteca Baja. Possibly logosyllabic.
Classic Gulf Coast Hieroglyphs, Early Classic to Early Postclassic. Probably an offshoot of Epi-olmec in the Gulf of Mexico. Probably logosyllabic.[11]
Teotihuacan Hieroglyphs, c. 100 BC – 700 AD, possibly a logosyllabary. Possibly inspired from the Zapotec script, and itself being the probable ancestor of the Postclassic Mixteca-Puebla Script.
Cotzumalhuapa Hieroglyphs, 0 CE – 1000 CE. A script in the Lower Pacific Coast which presents influences of Teotihuacan and the Maya Lowlands. Probably a logosyllabary.
Another similar concept is that of undeciphered cryptograms, or cipher messages. These are not writing systems per se, but a disguised form of another text. Of course any cryptogram is intended to be undecipherable by anyone except the intended recipient so vast numbers of these exist, but a few examples have become famous and are listed in list of ciphertexts.