History
Still-Undeciphered Scripts
16rows
6columns
31views
0downloads
Source:Community curated
Updated:4/9/2026
16/16
Script↕ | Origin↕ | Period↕ | Known Symbols↕ | Modern Discovery↕ | Why Undeciphered↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Linear A | Minoan Crete | 1800-1450 BCE | Around 90 signs plus ideograms | Evans at Knossos 1900 | Underlying Minoan language is unknown and unrelated to any decipherable tongue, no bilingual text exists |
Indus Script | Indus Valley Civilization | 2600-1900 BCE | Around 400-600 distinct signs | Harappa and Mohenjo-daro 1920s | Texts are extremely short (average 5 signs), no bilingual, debate over whether it even encodes a language |
Rongorongo | Easter Island (Rapa Nui) | Pre-1860s CE | Around 120 basic glyphs | Missionary Eyraud 1864 | Last literate Rapa Nui died in 19th century Peruvian slave raids, only 26 tablets survive worldwide |
Voynich Manuscript | Europe (likely Italy) | 15th century CE (carbon dated) | Around 25-30 unique characters | Wilfrid Voynich 1912 | Unknown script or cipher, illustrations of unknown plants and naked women, resists all statistical attacks |
Proto-Elamite | Iran (Susa and Persia) | 3100-2900 BCE | Around 1,000 signs | French excavations Susa 1890s | Over 1,600 tablets known but scribes made errors, signs rarely repeat in same context, no bilingual |
Cypro-Minoan | Bronze Age Cyprus | 1550-1050 BCE | Around 100 signs | Enkomi excavations early 1900s | Too few inscriptions, underlying Eteocypriot language poorly understood, evolved from Linear A |
Meroitic | Kingdom of Kush (Sudan) | 300 BCE-400 CE | 23 alphabetic signs | Long known, partially read by Griffith 1909 | Alphabet decoded but Meroitic language family and meaning of most words still unclear |
Isthmian (Epi-Olmec) | Veracruz, Mexico | 500 BCE-500 CE | Around 150 signs | La Mojarra Stela 1986 | Very few texts known, proposed decipherment as early Zoquean is disputed by most Mayanists |
Byblos Syllabary | Phoenicia (Byblos) | 2000-1800 BCE | Around 90-100 signs | Dunand excavations 1929-1932 | Only 10 inscriptions exist, may be a pseudo-hieroglyphic precursor to the Phoenician alphabet |
Olmec Cascajal Block | Veracruz, Mexico | Around 900 BCE | 62 signs, 28 distinct | Cascajal village 1999 | Earliest writing in the Americas, single stone tablet only, no context or comparable texts |
Sitovo Inscription | Bulgaria | Disputed (Bronze Age?) | Around 30 signs | Sitovo cave 1928 | Authenticity disputed, possibly natural cracks, no comparable inscriptions, may not be writing at all |
Vinca Symbols | Neolithic Balkans | 6000-3000 BCE | Hundreds of marks | Tordos Transylvania 1875 | Older than Sumerian cuneiform, but debated whether true writing or proto-writing symbols |
Zapotec Script | Oaxaca, Mexico | 600 BCE-800 CE | Hundreds of glyphs | Monte Alban excavations | Calendar signs partially read, but much of monumental inscriptions remains opaque |
Khipu (Inca) | Andean South America | 1400-1532 CE (earlier examples exist) | Knotted cords | Long known, study intensified 20th century | Numerical khipus decoded, but whether narrative khipus encode a phonetic language still debated |
Singapore Stone | Singapore | 10th-13th century CE | Around 50 lines of unknown script | Mouth of Singapore River 1819 | British blew up the stone in 1843 to widen the river, only fragments survive, language unknown |
Rohonc Codex | Hungary (probable origin) | Unknown, surfaced 19th century | Around 200 unique characters | Donated to Hungarian Academy 1838 | 448 pages of unknown script, religious illustrations suggest Christian content, possibly a hoax |
Free to explore · No signup needed
Related Datasets
More in History
Famous Declarations in History
Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, Universal Human Rights - which document most changed the world?
17 rows1 shared tag
Famous Battles
Twenty of the most consequential military engagements in world history, from ancient Marathon to the beaches of Normandy.
19 rows1 shared tag
Famous Pandemic Responses Throughout History
Venetian quarantine, London plague pits, 1918 flu masks, smallpox vaccination — which pandemic response changed public health forever?
15 rows1 shared tag
Famous Airships & Zeppelins
The legendary lighter-than-air giants that once ruled the skies — which historic airship is the most iconic?
14 rows1 shared tag
Famous Duels in History
Hamilton vs. Burr, Pushkin's fatal duel, Miyamoto Musashi — which duel is the most legendary?
15 rows1 shared tag
Famous Trade Routes in History
The Silk Road, the Spice Route, the Trans-Saharan, the Amber Road — which ancient trade route shaped civilization the most?
15 rows1 shared tag