If you have no major projects scheduled in the near future, consider taking on this challenge from the Smithsonian Institution. They’re offering USD 1 million to anyone who can figure out what this ancient manuscript says. For more than a century, no one has been able to decipher the various symbols carved into these tablets from the Indus Valley civilization. The Bronze Age society flourished in the northwestern regions of Southern Asia from roughly 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE. As one of the world’s first large-scale urban cultures, they developed grid-based layouts, standardized weights and measures and elaborate drainage and even sewer systems; domesticated animals; and of course, created a logosyllabic writing system.
The prize announcement actually comes from M.K. Stalin, an official with the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Recent archeological examinations noted similarities between the Indus script and early writing from Tamil Nadu, despite the considerable geographic distance.
Researchers at Tamil Nadu’s Pondicherry University digitized 15,000 graffiti-marked pot shards from 140 archaeological sites in Tamil Nadu and compared them against 4,000 examples of the Indus Valley script. They found that nearly 60 percent of the signs matched and 90 percent shared “parallels”. Despite the intensive scrutiny, the Indus markings remain enigmatic.
Hence, the reward!
Personally, I’d take on the challenge, since I love a great mystery and harbor a fascination with ancient cultures. But sometimes I even have trouble figuring out my own dreams! See what you can do!
Images: Wikimedia Commons
Chief Writing Wolf 