# Indus Valley script

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-valley-script/494306>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [April 25, 2009, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-valley-script/494306 "2009-04-25T09:40:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-valley-script/494306/1 "2009-04-25T09:40:17Z")

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Why we cannot decipher the [indus script](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2206/how-come-we-cant-decipher-the-indus-script) ??  
we may be [close to](http://news.softpedia.com/news/AI-Machine-Identifies-4-000-Year-Old-Language-Code-110044.shtml) it.

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [April 25, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-valley-script/494306/2 "2009-04-25T16:25:35Z")

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Maybe, maybe not.

Rao et al. say they’ve found evidence it writes a language (PDF): [http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/rao/ScienceIndus.pdf](http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/rao/ScienceIndus.pdf)

But Steve Farmer et al. say not so fast (PDF): [http://www.safarmer.com/Refutation3.pdf](http://www.safarmer.com/Refutation3.pdf)

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**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\
**Post date:** [April 27, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/indus-valley-script/494306/3 "2009-04-27T18:28:37Z")

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If it is the Indus _Valley_ script, shouldn’t they just assume the most common words are “like” and “totally”, and perhaps “awesome!!!”?

😉