On Indus Civ. signs

[Asko Parpola]

I think the context makes it clear that the Guardian quote should have  
been: "Writing is one of the hallmarks of civilization ..."

Best regards, Asko Parpola

Michael Witzel wrote:

Parpola said ...

And the Guardian, in rather garbled fashion, has him say:
""Language is one of the hallmarks of a literate civilisation. If it's  
real writing, we have a chance to know their language and to get to  
know more about their religion and other aspects of their culture. We  
don't have any literature from the region that can be understood."

To my mind at least, language is a hallmark of ANY human culture,  
whether hunter-gatherer or state society...