[INDOLOGY] An article on information encoded in the Indus Valley seals

[James Hartzell]

Dear George et al

Thanks very much for this article link. I have long thought that the 'seals' might be, largely, a type of coinage, and that the information on the seals largely of a finance-related nature for Indus valley commerce. As Mukhopadhyay susggests, the seals perhaps provide largely mathematical/commercial information about goods traded and the values of those goods, rather than language-related information per se.

It would be very interesting to hear other list member views on Mukhopadhyay's proposal and discussion of the evidence.

Cheers
James

>> On 9 Aug 2020, at 19:20, George Hart via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> wrote:
> 
> Those interested in the Indus Valley seals might like to read "Interrogating Indus inscriptions to unravel their mechanisms of meaning conveyance" by Bahata Ansumali Mukhopadhyay (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-019-0274-1). This author, a software developer, makes a strong case that the IV signs are logographic, not phonographic. It would seem that there is much information about the IVC to be found in the seals but that we may never be able to use them to discover what language their authors spoke. George Hart
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