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$1 MILLION REWARD OFFERED BY INDIAN OFFICIALS TO ANYONE WHO CAN DECODE AN ANCIENT SCRIPT

Some of the greatest mysteries in archaeology are not so much about locations that have not yet been located and excavated as they are about how little we know about artefacts that have been discovered in the past. Over the past century, 4,000 pieces containing the Indus script, which belonged to the Indus Valley Civilisation, have been discovered, but no one has been able to decipher it. As a result, authorities have offered a $1 million reward to anyone who can do so.

5,300 years ago, the Indus Valley Civilisation emerged in what is now northwest India and Pakistan. For centuries, the city, which was populated by farmers and traders, thrived. It eventually developed into one of the earliest urban societies in history, but it was short-lived. The cause of its demise is still unknown, as are the society's laws and beliefs, which may be concealed behind their undiscovered language. 

A variety of signs and symbols make up the Indus script. The messages are known for being extremely brief and are found on objects like small tablets and stone seals, which don't allow for lengthy texts. With the longest recorded being 34 symbols long, the average is roughly five signs or symbols on top of a central animal motif and an object adjacent to it. About 68 symbols have been identified by researchers from the materials at hand, but it has been very difficult to decipher their meaning in the absence of a bilingual artefact such as the well-known Rosetta Stone.

MK Stalin, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu state in south-east India, has offered a $1 million reward for anyone who can decode it, encouraging scholars and the public to look for answers. Although the prize was given out following the release of a recent study by K Rajan and R Sivananthan that discovered "parallels" between South Indian graffiti marks found in pottery and Indus script symbols, indicating "a kind of cultural contact," no one has been able to decipher it as of yet, despite linguistic scholars' best efforts.

"Perhaps the most significant unintelligible writing system is the Indus script," renowned Indologist Asko Parpola told the BBC. These stone seals were used for trade and commerce, despite the belief held by some that the symbols have spiritual and magical meanings.

In an attempt to unravel this mystery, researchers have resorted to machine learning and more recent technologies. However, there are questions about how to use all of these resources. "We are still unsure if the signs are whole words, word fragments, or sentence fragments," says Nisha Yadav, a researcher at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai. "As far as we can tell, the script is organised, and the writing has a deeper meaning."


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