What are the ancient languages ​​that we still don’t know how to decipher?

In the world it is estimated exist beyond 7 000 languages, about the 40% of those spoken are a risk e.g.tinanceand there are still others so ancient and mysterious that to today, despite the commitment and efforts of the scholars, we have not yet deciphered. We will discover some of the ancient languages ​​that fall into this family as the Olmeche registrationsThe Rongorongo and the Merotic writinganalyzing the challenges that present themselves daily to scholars and possible future perspectives.

The writing of the Ado Valley

In the current Pakistan and in theNorth-Western Indiabetween 2600 and 1900 BC, flourished the Civilization of the Ado Valley. This civilization used a Pittograph writing system Composed of about 400 distinct signs, often accompanied by representations of animals, including a mysterious unicorn.

Registrations are generally short, with an average of five signs, which makes Statistical analysis and deciphering difficult. Added to this is the lack of bilingual texts and the scarcity of crossed references with known languages, which further made the decoding attempts. Some scholars hypothesize that writing can represent one of the dravidic languages ​​that belong to the linguistic family that includes all the main idioms of southern India but, without concrete evidence, the writing of the Ado Valley remains an enigma.

Linear a

One of the not yet deciphered languages ​​is the Minoan languagefrom the civilization prossed to Crete between 1850 and 1400 BC, a writing system known as Linear a whose traces have been found in the islands of Aegean sea and, sporadically, on Greek peninsula and on the western coast ofAsia Minor. During the period of the so -called “First buildings“Cretesi (XIX-XVIII century) is attested almost exclusively to Festo, while in the” period of “Second buildings “ (XVII-XV century) is present throughout the island. Although his discovery is quite recent, because at 1893 by the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evansthe linear to remains indeciphered. This syllabic system, written from left to right, was mainly used for administrative and religious purposes. The apparent similarity with the Linear B Used by the Mycenaeans, deciphered in 1952 and used to write an archaic form of Greek, it did not facilitate the understanding of the linear A.

The Rongorongo of the Easter Island

THE’Easter island It hosts another mysterious language: it is a system of glyphs called Rongorongo. The written testimonies of this language with a funny name are dating back to the nineteenth century, and are engraved on wooden tablets, present stylized human and natural figures. Scripture follows a trend “reverse bustrofedic“, in which LReading proceeds from left to the right and from the bottom to the top, With rotations of the tablet at each line. The scarcity of documents, considering that the well -known specimens are only 26, and the absence of a more known language below, still make the deciphering of the extremely difficult Rongorongo today.

Proto-elamitic writing

In the ancient Elam, current Iranabout 5000 years ago, what is still considered one of the first known writing systems was used: writing proto-elamitic. This system, which is thought to descend from submeroconsists of a thousand logographic signs (A logogram is a graphic symbol that represents a specific word or concept) and was used mainly for accounting and administrative registration purposes at the end of the 4th millennium ac similarly to the proto-cuciform system, the proto-elamit is configured as a mixed system, made up of logographic and phonetic signs, for a total of approximately approximately 400-800 characters. Today, they are known about more than 1700 texts In proto-elama, written on clay tablets. However, even in this case, the fact that bilingual texts are missing made the decifuration extremely complex. Currently, the writings received are exhibited in museums such as the Louvre of Paris, and are gradually digitizing to improve the chances of future deciphering.

Merotic writing

THE’Merotic alphabet It was used in the Kingdom of Meroë (in the present Nubia) Until 200 BC this writing system, derived from Egyptian hieroglyphicsis made up of only 23 signs and a single sign of interpretation. The Merotic died out in the fourth century AD with the collapse of the Kushita Empire. Although the sounds associated with the signs have been identified, the language remains largely unknown, making it difficult to understand the texts and also the lack of a true knowledge of the grammatical and vocabulary structure, limits our ability to correctly interpret the registrations.

Olmeche registrations

There Civilization Olmecadeveloped in the Gulf of Mexico in the 1st Millennium BC, has left testimonies of a writing system that has still been undecipsed. An example symbol is the “Cascajal stone“: A block of serpentine of the size of a tablet, discovered in 1999 in the village of Lomas de Tacamichapan, Mexico. Dated around 900 BC, presents 62 engraved glyphs, some of which represent plants such as corn and pineapple, or animals such as insects and fish. These symbols, organized in horizontal lines, do not show similarities with other well -known meso -measoric writing systems, The Mayan one. Despite the difficulties, the research continues.