Want a Million Dollars? Get Busy Deciphering This Ancient Script.
A prize offered by an Indian state leader is intended to shed light on a Bronze Age civilization — and settle a cultural battle.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/world/asia/india-indus-script-prize.html

It is a riddle that has confounded scholars for over a century. And now it carries a handsome cash prize: $1 million for anyone who can decipher the script of the ancient Indus Valley civilization.

I was kinda hoping that this might be a job for AI.

Along with putting together old manuscripts that are in dozens of little scraps and fragments. Sort of like a jigsaw puzzle where many of the bits are missing, and you don’t even know what the picture on the box is.

party_pants said:

I was kinda hoping that this might be a job for AI.

Along with putting together old manuscripts that are in dozens of little scraps and fragments. Sort of like a jigsaw puzzle where many of the bits are missing, and you don’t even know what the picture on the box is.

Yeah it will be a tough one. We don’t even really know AFAICT whether the language was an Indo-European or something else: Makes comparative analysis very difficult.

Most Indus Valley inscriptions are very short. This is the longest one known so far, a copper plate inscribed with 34 characters.

Bubblecar said:

Most Indus Valley inscriptions are very short. This is the longest one known so far, a copper plate inscribed with 34 characters.

Last character on the third line is clearly a football, but which code?

As an aside, M.K. Stalin, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu who is offering this prize, was actually named after Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

>Stalin is the third son of 2nd Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and DMK Chief M. Karunanidhi, and was born to his wife, Dayalu Ammal. Stalin was born in Madras, now Chennai, on 1 March 1953. Karunanidhi was addressing a condolence meeting for Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who died only four days after his child was born, and thus decided to name his son after Stalin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._K._Stalin

Bubblecar said:

Most Indus Valley inscriptions are very short. This is the longest one known so far, a copper plate inscribed with 34 characters.

Dead easy! It’s a recipe for making gin.

Juniper plant on the right-hand side, and a warning that if you drink too much, you won’t be able to stand up – you’ll have to squat to perform all bodily functions.

Just like the term ‘selfie’ was, apparently, coined by a Forum member, remember where you saw this explanation first!

Thank you.

AussieDJ said:

Bubblecar said:

Most Indus Valley inscriptions are very short. This is the longest one known so far, a copper plate inscribed with 34 characters.

Dead easy! It’s a recipe for making gin.

Juniper plant on the right-hand side, and a warning that if you drink too much, you won’t be able to stand up – you’ll have to squat to perform all bodily functions.

Just like the term ‘selfie’ was, apparently, coined by a Forum member, remember where you saw this explanation first!

Thank you.

Heh.

Y’all sorted this out yet? I expect a finder’s fee.

dv said:

Y’all sorted this out yet? I expect a finder’s fee.

I’m working on the idea that this somehow relates to indoor plumbing.

dv said:

Y’all sorted this out yet? I expect a finder’s fee.

It’s a complaint about poor quality copper.