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Comment by m0llusk | Hacker News Reader

Also interesting how Harappan Indus script is now partially deciphered. These developments are beginning to reveal much about the ancient world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOZ21f3DKs4

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Okay I did not expect to see Yajnadevam's pseudohistorical nonsense getting linked to on hacker news. That's a new one.

Did you not bother to watch the video? It is pretty much all Steven Bonta talking about some ideas about a limited interpretation of some symbols. All of his logic is explained. There is very little history there except for reference to Harappan sites where seals were found.

Attempts to comprehend lost scripts such as Linear B, Mayan script, and Harappan seals all use similar techniques. Do you have some alternative or are you insisting that these attempts to decipher ancient scripts are fundamentally flawed?

There have been many such claims of decipherment of the Indus Valley script, with varying levels of rigour in their arguments, but I wouldn't consider any of them having actually achieved it.

Did you watch the video, though? New arguments are presented and there is quite a bit of qualifying language about how these results apply only to a small subset. That is, there is no claim here to have deciphered the script, only small parts of it using more robust logic than has been used before. This is common phenomenon in deciphering ancient scripts.

Oh the frequency illusion. I read just today about a possible value of one sign. That's in Adams and Mallory's Encyclopedia from 1997!

No, the core presentation is around two hours and includes more than frequency analysis. Around a half dozen signs get relatively close examination. Do you have any specific objections or alternative explanations for comparison?

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