UN-DECIPHERED WRITING THAT WE MIGHT NEVER WORK OUT

THE ISTHMIAN SCRIPT

The Isthmian script, also known as the La Mojarra script, is

a very early Mesoamerican writing system that was in use

around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec from 500 BCE to 500 CE,

although there is disagreement concerning these dates.

Isthmian script is similar in structure to the Maya script and

like the Maya uses one set of characters to represent

logograms (word units) and a second to represent syllables.

THE CASCAJAL BLOCK

Made of serpentinite, the Cascajal Block is a tablet-sized

writing slab in Mexico that has been dated to the early first

millennium BCE, incised with unknown characters that

may represent the earliest writing system in the New World.

According to archaeologist Stephen Houston of Brown

University, this discovery helps link the Olmec civilization to

literacy, record an unsuspected writing system, and reveal

a new layer to the Olmec civilization, even though we

have yet to fully comprehend it.

SITOVO INSCRIPTION

The Sitovo inscription is an inscription that has yet to be

satisfactorily translated or interpreted. An archaeological

expedition, led by Alexander Peev, discovered it on the

wall of Sitovo Cave in 1928, close to Plovdiv, Bulgaria. It is

believed to have most likely been inscribed around 1200 BCE.

SOUTHWEST PALEO HISPANIC SCRIPT

The Southwest or Southwestern script, also known as

Tartessian or South Lusitanian, is a Paleo Hispanic script

used to write an unknown language usually identified as

Tartessian. Southwest inscriptions have been found mainly

in the southwestern quadrant of the Iberian Peninsula, in

southern Portugal, but also in Spain, in southern

Extremadura and western Andalucia.

CYPRO-MINOAN SYLLABARY

The Cypro-Minoan syllabary (CM) is an un-deciphered syllabic

script used on the Greek island of Cyprus during the Late

Bronze Age. Sir Arthur Evans coined the term in 1909 based

on its visual similarity to Linear A on Minoan Crete, from

which CM is thought to have been derived. Approximately

250 objects, including clay balls, cylinders, tablets and votive

stands, which bear Cypro-Minoan inscriptions, have been found.

BYBLOS SYLLABARY

The Byblos syllabary is an un-deciphered writing system known

from ten inscriptions found in Byblos (in Lebanon). The

inscriptions are engraved on bronze plates and spatulas

and carved in stone. They were excavated by Maurice Dunand,

from 1928 to 1932 and published in 1945 in his text

Byblia Grammata. The inscriptions are conventionally

dated to the second millennium BCE, probably between

the eighteenth and fifteenth centuries.

PROTO-SINAITIC SCRIPT

Proto-Sinaitic was the first consonantal alphabet. Even a

cursory glance at its inventory of signs makes it clear that

the script is Egyptian in origin. Originally it was thought

that at around 1700 BCE Sinai was conquered by Egypt

and that the local West Semitic population was influenced

by Egyptian culture, adopting a small number of

hieroglyphs (about thirty) to write their own language.

However, recent discoveries in Egypt have complicated

this perspective. Inscriptions dating to 1900 BCE written in

what appears to be proto-Sinaitic were found in Upper Egypt

and nearby Egyptian texts speak of the presence of

Semitic-speaking people living in Egypt.

CRETAN HIEROGLYPHS

Cretan hieroglyphs are un-deciphered hieroglyphs found on

artefacts of Early Bronze Age Crete, during the Minoan period.

It predates Linear A by about a century, but continued to be

used alongside it for most of their history.