Will the Indus Valley script ever be deciphered? (www.livescience.com)

The Indus Valley Civilization, one of the world's oldest societies, produced a written script that remains undeciphered despite thousands of surviving artifacts. This script, consisting of hundreds of unique signs, poses a formidable challenge for scholars due to its brevity and the absence of a known correlating language. Experts like Michael Philip Oakes have highlighted the difficulties in decipherment, including the lack of bilingual texts—meaning no “Rosetta Stone” equivalent exists. Despite various claims of partial decipherment over the years, such as those made by linguist Steve Bonta, skepticism remains predominant within the academic community. Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) may provide new avenues for deciphering the Indus script. Researchers acknowledge AI's potential to assist in generating possible meanings for the signs, though human oversight is deemed essential for effective application. Peter Revesz and Rajesh Rao, both experts in computational linguistics, express varying levels of optimism regarding AI’s role; while Rao is cautious about full decipherment, he acknowledges that a better understanding of numerical systems could emerge. The need for more extensive archaeological discoveries is emphasized, suggesting that future excavations could yield longer texts that might facilitate breakthroughs in understanding this ancient script.