Articles in University of Washington News and other periodicals look at the work of University of Washington Computer Science & Engineering professor Raj Rao, who is using machine learning techniques to support the hypothesis that the Indus Script is a written language.
According to the UW News article, “While the Rosetta Stone enabled scholars to translate symbols left by ancient civilizations which helped decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics, symbols left on other ancient artifacts have remained a mystery. The mystery remains around an as yet undeciphered script found on relics from the Indus valley. The Indus script, used between 2,600 and 1,900 B.C. in what is now eastern Pakistan and northwest India, belonged to a civilization as sophisticated as its Mesopotamian and Egyptian contemporaries. However, it left fewer linguistic remains.
“‘We applied techniques of computer science, specifically machine learning, to an ancient problem … At this point we can say that the Indus script seems to have statistical regularities that are in line with natural languages’ said Rao.”
UWeek article here.
The Guardian article here.
The New Scientist article here.
Wired Science article here.
Discover article here.
Washington Post article here.
UW Daily article here.