Indus Epigraphic Perspectives: Exploring Past Decipherment Attempts & Possible New Approaches

Abstract

First appearing on potsherds around 3300 BC, the Indus script was primarily in use during the Mature Harappan period (ca. 2600-1900 BC) in the Indus Valley region, centred in the north-western region of the Indian Subcontinent. It is one of the last remaining undeciphered scripts of the ancient world. A great number of Indus inscriptions, however, have been uncovered at many archaeological sites in the Persian Gulf, discoveries that corroborate the inclusion of the Indus civilization as an active participant in the Mesopotamian-dominated Gulf trade of the 3rd millennium. In addition to exploring the current state of research surrounding the Indus decipherment attempts, the thesis will examine new perspectives on ancient history, arguing in favour of various possibilities of Mesopotamian, Elamite, and/or pre-dynastic Egyptian (North East African) cultural presences or influences in the ancient Indus River basin.