The Indus script: A challenging puzzle

The Indus script used by the Harappan civilization around 2600–1800 B.C. remains little understood, but is by no means a ‘hopeless case’ as some authorities have maintained. The vexed problems concerning the nature of the script, the identity of the underlying language, and the methods and present state of decipherment are briefly discussed. (For overviews with different emphases, see Parpola 1975 and 1979, with bibliographies). The focus of this paper is on aspects that are of special interest to archaeologists, including the problem of the origin of the Indus script, its forerunners and earliest examples, as well as the types of objects on which the signs occur.