Earliest writing system in the world: Harappan

S.Kalyanaraman kalyan99 at NETSCAPE.NET
Sun May 9 11:35:10 UTC 1999


Hi,
I have made the following posting at: http://sarasvati.listbot.com
[Context: BBC interview with Prof. Meadow on May 2, 1999]
Would appreciate comments. Regards, Kalyanaraman

"Please see and hear some audio clips from the BBC interview with Prof. Meadow
on May 2, 1999 (who has recently participated with Prof.Kenoyer in the
on-going archaeological work in Harappa). It is mirrored at:
http://sarasvati.simplenet.com/meadow/meadow.htm

"The early reports seem to point to a historic discovery: some of the signs of
the Harappan script have occurred on pottery fragments, pointing to an
evolution of the script, dating back 5500 years, making this the earliest
writing system the world has ever known.

"So-called 'plant-like' and 'trident-shaped' markings have been found on
fragments of pottery dating back 5500 years (see attached image).  According
to Dr Richard Meadow of Harvard University, the director of the Harappa
Archaeological Research Project, these primitive inscriptions found on pottery
may pre-date all other known writing. 

"Prof. Meadow may be wrong in his surmise that the  "Harappan language died
out and did not form the basis of other languages." How can he say this? This
does not seem to jibe with his statement: "Around 1900 BC Harappa and other
urban centres started to decline as people left them to move east to what is
now India and the Ganges." 

"I have prepared a preliminary hieroglyphic dictionary, on the assumption that
the language did not die out but is found among TODAY's spoken languages of
India, as people moved out of the Sarasvati River basin after the desiccation
of the river ca. 1900-1500 BC to the Ganga-Yamuna doab and south of Surat. 

"I have also proposed that most of the signs can be interpreted as bronze-age
weapons, using the rebus method..."

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