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The Indus Valley Script has remained undeciphered for 4,000 years. What do the mysterious symbols reveal about an ancient civilisation?

<div><p>Between 2016 and 2020, a massive stone bead workshop associated to dwelling units was discovered at Chanhu-daro site (Trench 2 and 3) and dated to the first period of the Indus Civilization (2600/2500-2300 BCE). A huge amount of different raw materials (e.g. flint, steatite, agate, carnelian, jasper, ernestite) was processed and debitage wastes of both knapping and cutting activities were identified. Tools for manufacturing, perforating or polishing the stone beads (e.g. blades, drills/borers, polishers, hammers, pressure flaker) -some of them unique and exceptionally preserved -were found together. Several beads roughouts, preforms, and finished products were also documented. For the first time (so-far) contextualized data about an intensive craft production from the first Indus period will be discussed. The evidence found at Chanhu-daro site will help reconstructing the whole stone beads manufacturing processes and investigating the related technical system.</p></div>

"The results presented below come from a Master 2 research thesis. It was carried out at the University Paris 1 - Panthéon-Sorbonne (2021-2022) [within the frame of the French Archaeological Mission in the Indus Basin] . This thesis had multiple objectives : • Establishing a list of Chanhu-daro’s zoomorphic terracotta figurines in order to establish typologies specific to the site; • Detecting any link between zoomorphic figurines and their characteristics, on the one hand, and their distribution on the site and their context of discovery on the other; • Studying the traces present on the zoomorphic figurines as well as their decorations and morphology to understand the modalities of their manufacture. The corpus includes 401 figurines from the Indus Civilisation site of Chanhu-daro (Sindh, Pakistan). They were found during the excavations and surveys of: • MAFBI since 2015; • N. G. Majumdar, in 1931; • E. J. H. Mackay, from 1935 to 1936. They were dated in majority from the first Indus period (2600/2500-2300 BCE), but also from the second Indus period (2300-2100 BCE) and the third Indus period (2100-1900 BCE)."

YouTube video by DK Global

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The Indus script is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus Valley Civilization. Most inscriptions containing these symbols are extremely short, making it difficult to understand.

The Indus script is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus Valley Civilization. Most inscriptions containing these symbols are extremely short, making it difficult to understand.

The Indus script is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus Valley Civilization. Most inscriptions containing these symbols are extremely short, making it difficult to understand.