In the rough hills of Central Asia , a routine of wall bear a inscrutable book that ’s scribble in an unknown written linguistic process . Thanks to the late workplace of a squad from the University of Cologne , parts of this ancient script are starting to be reveal , shedding light onto the pre - lofty refinement that wrote it .
The so - call “ unknown Kushan script ” is a writing system that ’s been found across parts of Central Asia . The script has been date across legion sites in modern - day Tajikistan , Afghanistan , and Uzbekistan , but has never been successfully decode .
It was used between about 200 BCE and 700 CE by the early nomadic peoples of the Eurasiatic steppe , such as the Yuèzhī , and the ruling dynasty of the Kushans .
Characters on a rock in the Almosi Gorge in Tajikistan.Image credit: Bobomullo Bobomulloev
One of the most prominent legacies of the herculean Kushan empire was spread out Buddhism across Central Asia and China . They left behind amazing graphics and a ingathering of impressive fort , as well as this unusual writing system .
In a new project , linguists have made a major breakthrough in understanding the language by studying a bilingual inscription find in Tajikistan – written in Bactrian and unsung Kushan script – and a trilingual inscription from Afghanistan – write in Gandhari or Middle Indo - Aryan , Bactrian , and unknown Kushan hand .
The researchers were able-bodied to decode the message using a similar method utilise on theRosetta Stone . write in 196 BCE , this ancient stone features a fiat written in three languages : Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs , Demotic script , and Greek script . Since student could still understand Ancient Greek , the Rosetta Stone became a valuable key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs .
This part of the script appears to make reference to the “King of Kings.“Image credit: Bobomullo Bobomulloev/College de France/Natalie Korobzow
The find in understanding the unknown Kushan book came when the investigator remark the royal name Vema Takhtu , which appeared in both Bactrian parallel text , and the statute title “ King of Kings , ” could be identified in the corresponding sections in the unknown Kushan script . Using the parallel texts , the linguists were able to note certain character sequences and even work out the phonic qualities of some private characters , including 15 different consonantal signs and four vocalic diacritical mark .
As for the precise substance of the messages , that still remains unidentified , but the researcher say their workplace has helped to illuminate the murky linguistic chronicle of this part of Central Asia .
The team debate that the Kushan playscript recorded a completely unidentified Middle Iranian speech communication , which they ’ve dubbed “ Eteo - Tocharian ” . They think it most likely served as an intermediary words within the growing of Bactrian to Khotanese Saka , an ancient language of western China .
It also seems that at some detail in fourth dimension , the freshly decipheredlanguagewas one of the official terminology of the Kushan Empire alongside Bactrian , Gandhari / Middle Indo - Aryan , andSanskrit .
“ Our decipherment of this handwriting can help oneself enhance our understanding of the spoken communication and cultural story of Central Asia and the Kushan Empire , interchangeable to the deciphering of the Egyptian hieroglyphic or Mayan glyphs for our understanding of ancient Egypt or Mayan civilization , ” Svenja Bonmann , first writer from the department of Linguistics at the University of Cologne , said in astatement .
The study is issue inTransactions of the Philological Society .
