32
votes
What's the explanation for the similarities seen between the Rapa Nui script and the Indus Valley Script?
The supposed relationship between rongorongo (the Rapa Nui script) and the Indus Valley script was proposed in a 1932 article by the Hungarian engineer Vilmos Hevesy (Guillaume de Hevesy).
I'm not ...
- 77.4k
20
votes
Accepted
Did any Native Americans adopt a script from Europe (before being assimilated)?
First off, yes you are wrong. Some kind of long-term record-keeping seems to be a common requirement for civilized people, so both the Maya and the Inca developed something pre-contact. I personally ...
- 118k
15
votes
What's the explanation for the similarities seen between the Rapa Nui script and the Indus Valley Script?
It should be now regarded as a legitimately researched line of possible inquiry that turned out to be completely bogus based on spurious correlational observations.
An early enthusiast for this ...
- 80.8k
9
votes
Did any Native Americans adopt a script from Europe (before being assimilated)?
The question is a bit confusing, so I'll give two answers and hope one of them works...
First, there have been a couple of instances AFTER contact that Native Americans (or, sometimes, missionaries) ...
- 1,764
6
votes
Why do many Indian Languages have different alphabets?
This is basically a legacy of the Roman Empire, which conquered most of Western Europe and ruled it for centuries, and then of the Christian Church, which established Latin as a lingua franca where it ...
- 2,915
6
votes
Did the Indus Valley Civilization use cotton as a writing material?
It looks highly unlikely. All we can say for sure is that there doesn't appear to be any evidence that such a thing ever happened during that era.
The vast majority of our exemplars of Indus Valley ...
- 118k
6
votes
Accepted
What does the first Versal in Book of Kells refer to?
The manuscript letters are I and h making the word Ihs. ΙΗΣ is the Greek contraction for Jesus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christogram
- 881
5
votes
What adaptations allowed left-handers to write left-to-right with dip pens?
The two lefthanders in my high school class wrote with their left hand curled completely around the paper to place the left hand above and to the right of the line being written.
- 72.3k
4
votes
Accepted
What is the oldest quote or poem in known history?
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, as cited by Wikipedia's list of oldest known documents:
... the oldest surviving love poem, a balbale, in the world is of Sumerian origin and written ...
- 72.3k
4
votes
What adaptations allowed left-handers to write left-to-right with dip pens?
In Soviet Union in 1970-s all schoolchildren were taught to write with their right hand, no matter whether they were right or left handed by birth.
Until the 5-th grade we could only write with steel ...
- 38.5k
4
votes
What does the first Versal in Book of Kells refer to?
So others know what is being talked about I am inserting a picture of the versal (ie the ornate capital letter):
The transcription is as follows:
Ihs autem dixitei egosum et vi debitis filium ...
- 37.8k
3
votes
What did Ostian script look like?
There is no such thing as "Ostian script". Ostia is known for having been the source of a relatively large number of well-preserved Latin inscriptions (one is shown below). These inscriptions show the ...
- 37.8k
2
votes
Accepted
What adaptations allowed left-handers to write left-to-right with dip pens?
I am left-handed, and never experienced this problem with dip-pens or fountain pens as a child /young woman, since the hand is below the current writing line. The main problem is not being able to see ...
- 7,939
2
votes
What did Ostian script look like?
Ostia was a Roman port, possibly the first of their colonies. As such, the script should have been based on the Latin alphabet, which itself appears to have been derived from the Etruscan script.
...
- 2,372
1
vote
Why do many Indian Languages have different alphabets?
I can give some background information of why it might have happened. A state-by-state answer is however beyond me.
Firstly, it is important to understand that alphabets are rarely a perfect match for ...
- 696
1
vote
What are the problems archaeologists face in deciphering the Indus Valley writing?
Try seeing the attempted decipherment of Suzzane Marie. She claims it is an Indo Aryan language. Her attempts are promising.
Use it to try and decipher this seal:
Addendum
Suzanne M R Sullivan ...
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