A Markov model of the Indus script

Abstract

Although no historical information exists about the Indus civilization (flourished ca. 2600 -1900 B.C.), archaeologists have uncovered about 3,800 short samples of a script that was used throughout the civilization. The script remains undeciphered, despite a large number of attempts and claimed decipherments over the past 80 years. Here, we propose the use of probabilistic models to analyze the structure of the Indus script. The goal is to reveal, through probabilistic analysis, syntactic patterns that could point the way to eventual decipherment. We illustrate the approach using a simple Markov chain model to capture sequential dependencies between signs in the Indus script. The trained model allows new sample texts to be generated, revealing recurring patterns of signs that could potentially form functional subunits of a possible underlying language. The model also provides a quantitative way of testing whether a particular string belongs to the putative language as captured by the Markov model. Application of this test to Indus seals found in Mesopotamia and other sites in West Asia reveals that the script may have been used to express different content in these regions. Finally, we show how missing, ambiguous, or unreadable signs on damaged objects can be filled in with most likely predictions from the model. Taken together, our results indicate that the Indus script exhibits rich synactic structure and the ability to represent diverse content. both of which are suggestive of a linguistic writing system rather than a nonlinguistic symbol system. ancient scripts ͉ archaeology ͉ linguistics ͉ machine learning ͉ statistical analysis

Clustering Indus Texts using K-means

“…These and other studies [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], therefore provide a unique set of constraints on any interpretation of this undeciphered script. It suggests a high level of standardization, nine clusters of texts each with its own preferred set of signs and sign sets, a uniformity of grammar and an agreed function of each sign across the culture.…”

“…Earlier studies have explored the sequential structure of the Indus script using various statistical and computational techniques [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], the design of Indus signs [21] and different types of patterns inscribed on these objects [22][23][24]. These studies do not make any assumptions about its nature, content or meaning.…”

Statistical Analysis of the Indus Script Using n-Grams

“…While such an approach cannot shed light on the semantics of the script, it can reveal important features of its syntax. Research on the Indus script using the statistical approach was initiated by Knorozov and his team in 1965, further developed by Parpola and collaborators in 1969 (for review of various attempts see [8]–[10]), continued by Siromoney [11] in the 1980s and followed up more recently by us [12]–[15].…”

Study of Indus Valley Scripts through Linguistic and Markov Chain Methods

“…We will now describe the Markov chain in terms of a language (Shannon, 1948;Rao & Rajesh, 2009;). Suppose we have a string of symbols of a language which may be known or unknown.…”