Computers May Crack Ancient Texts Computer software that creates
a statistical model of even indecipherable languages is being
used in an attempt to better understand texts the meaning of
which have been lost. (Indecipherable Indus valley text cracked)
This fragment of text from the Indus Valley between 2600 and
1900 BC is part of more than 5,000 seals, tablets and amulets
discovered by archaeologists. Experts even disagree on whether
or not the markings, called the Harappan script, even constitute
a language. National pride is at stake; some scholars have
declared that the script only provides rudimentary pictograms
and that the Indus Valley people were functionally illiterate.
American and Indian computer scientists entered the symbols and
are running a statistical analysis. "The computer program
operates on sequences of symbols, so it can be used to learn a
statistical model of any set of unknown or known texts," says
Rajesh Rao, University of Washington professor of computer
science and co-author of the p