Questions about inscriptions, pictographs, and the written communication system used by the ancient Indus Valley civilization as well as attempts to decode it.

39. Have we found any 'writing instruments' that could have been used to paint or etch materials?

Iravatham Mahadevan

As Iravatham Mahadevan points out, archaeological evidence makes it inconceivable that IVC's large, well-administered and sophisticated trading society would have functioned without effective long-distance communication. Unlike the clay tablets of Mesopotamia, no written records were discovered from Indus Valley sites except seals. The people of IVC might have written on cotton cloth, leaves, bark or hide which would have decayed by now, leaving no trace.

46. What are your comments on the recent claim by Brian Wells on the volumetric interpretation of some signs of the Indus script?

Article on volumetric interpretations. Submitted by Wim Borsboom

Asko Parpola
The groups of vertical strokes (but not all of them) stand for ones and groups of semicircles probably stand for tens. Beyond this, the identification of numerals in the Indus script is difficult and uncertain. The arguments adduced by Brian Wells for his volumetric interpretations do not convince me.

29. Can we say anything about the town Vataman near Lothal?

I have read in Dr. Parpola's papers that Vata and Aman are two very significant words in the Harappan language. I also noticed that there is a small town named Vataman approximately 15 km east of Harappan site of Lothal in Gujarat. Could this be of any significance?
Submitted by Rajendra. Editor’s note: I have verified that there is indeed a village called ‘Vataman’ east of Lothal.