Kushan script
Script type
Time period
600-200 BCE to CE 700
Directionright-to-left script
LanguagesUnknown Middle Iranian language
Related scripts
Parent systems

The unknown Kushan script (écriture inconnue in French, neizvestnoe pis’mo in Russian, both meaning unknown lettering[1]) is a partially deciphered writing system and abugida, written from right to left, used to record a Middle Iranian language related to Bactrian. It was used in parts of Central Asia between 600-200 BCE (depending on the age of the Issyk inscription) and 700 CE, including the Kushan Empire, associated with the nomads of the Eurasian Steppe in ancient Bactria.[1] It was discovered by archaeologists in the 1950s. Textual remnants consist of cave wall carvings and painted ceramics. Most of what was written was probably recorded on palm leaves or birch bark which had decomposed. It was used by the Kushan administration along with Greek and Kharosthi scripts. The script contained less than 30 signs, and likely around 25. It is possibly an Imperial Aramaic-derived script, modified with diacritics.[1]

Several decipherment attempts were made, mostly focusing on the oldest instance of the script, the Issyk inscription, without success.[1] The partial decipherment was announced on 1 March 2023 by a team at the University of Cologne, when the consonant values of 15 signs, 2 ligatures, and 4 vowel diacritics had been determined. The corpus is primarily short inscriptions that originate from the territory of today's Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. A significant discovery that led to progress on decipherment was a bilingual carving found in the Almosi Gorge in northwestern Tajikistan, which included a section in the Bactrian language and ancient Greek writing. It was used in addition to the trilingual Gandhari-Bactrian-Kushan inscription discovered in the 1960s at Dašt-i Nāwur, Mount Qarabayu in Afghanistan, as the name of emperor Vima Takto and his title King of Kings appears in both texts.[2][3][4][5][6]

Vladimir Liwshits originally pointed out that the Issyk inscription bears a resemblance to later, similarly undeciphered inscriptions from the Kushan Empire, dated to the 2nd-3rd centuries CE. This includes texts found at Dašt-i Nāwur, Surkh Kotal, Al-Khanoum, and seven other short inscriptions. He and Edvard Rtveladze suggested calling it the Saka script, because it apparently appeared in the time of the Saka and was used by ones that joined the Yuezhi to establish the Kushan Empire.[7][8] Harmatta proposed a decipherement in 1999 based on this hypothesis.[8]

However, due to some deviations, Gérard Fussman hypothesised that they could be attributed to several writing systems.[9] The Sakan hypothesis was also met with skepticism due to the possibility that the Issyk inscription originates from Bactria via trade or loot. As of 2014, the majority of experts considered the script to be undeciphered.[10]

Some researchers have claimed similarities with the Orkhon runes and tried to read them as inscriptions in Old Turkic. However, due to the attempts all widely varying in their attempted decipherments, they have not been considered successful. Liwshits claimed that this is because they shared a common origin in the Imperial Aramaic script.[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Bonmann, Svenja; Halfmann, Jakob; Korobzow, Natalie; Bobomulloev, Bobomullo (2023). "A Partial Decipherment of the Unknown Kushan Script". Transactions of the Philological Society. 121 (2): 293–329. doi:10.1111/1467-968X.12269. S2CID 259851498.
  2. ↑ "Research group deciphers enigmatic ancient 'unknown Kushan script'". phys.org. 13 July 2023.
  3. ↑ "Discovery of inscriptions in the Almosi Gorge, Tajikistan". Central Asian Archaeological Landscapes. 16 November 2022.
  4. ↑ Pare, Sascha (19 July 2023). "Ancient 'Unknown' Script Is Finally Deciphered". Scientific American.
  5. ↑ Georgiu, Aristos (14 July 2023). "Scientists Decode Ancient Script That Has Puzzled Scholars for 70 Years". Newsweek.
  6. ↑ "How did Ancient Greek letters get engraved in mountains in Tajikistan". Jerusalem Post. 2 January 2023.
  7. 1 2 Liwshits, V.A. (1980). О происхождении древнетюркской рунической письменности. Археологические исследования древнего и средневекового Казахстана. Alma-Ata.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. 1 2 Dani, Ahmad Hasan; Harmatta, János (1999). "An Unknown Language in an Unknown Script". Languages and Literature of the Kushan Empire. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. ISBN 9788120814080.
  9. ↑ "Dašt-e Nāwor". Encyclopædia Iranica.
  10. ↑ "KUSHAN DYNASTY ii. Inscriptions of the Kushans". Encyclopædia Iranica.

Further reading

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