An undeciphered writing system is a written form of language that is not currently understood. Many undeciphered writing systems date from several thousand years BC, though some more modern examples do exist. The term "

writing system A writing system is a method of visually representing verbal communication, based on a script and a set of rules regulating its use. While both writing and speech are useful in conveying messages, writing differs in also being a reliable form ...

s" is used here loosely to refer to groups of glyphs which appear to have representational symbolic meaning, but which may include "systems" that are largely artistic in nature and are thus not examples of actual

writing Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically Epigraphy, inscribed, Printing press, mechanically transferred, or Word processor, digitally represented Symbols (semiot ...

. The difficulty in deciphering these systems can arise from a lack of known language descendants or from the languages being entirely isolated, from insufficient examples of text having been found and even (such as in the case of

Vinča Vinča ( sr-cyr, Винча, ) is a suburban settlement of Belgrade, Serbia. It is part of the municipality of Grocka. Vinča-Belo Brdo, an important archaeological site that gives its name to the Neolithic Vinča culture, is located in the villa ...

) from the question of whether the symbols actually constitute a writing system at all. Some researchers have claimed to be able to decipher certain writing systems, such as those of Epi-Olmec, Phaistos and Indus texts; but to date, these claims have not been widely accepted within the scientific community, or confirmed by independent researchers, for the writing systems listed here (unless otherwise specified).

Proto-writing

Certain forms of

proto-writing Proto-writing consists of visible marks communicating limited information. Such systems emerged from earlier traditions of symbol systems in the early Neolithic, as early as the 7th millennium BC in Eastern Europe and China. They used ideograph ...

remain undeciphered and, because of a lack of evidence and linguistic descendants, it is quite likely that they will never be deciphered.

Neolithic signs in China Since the second half of the 20th century, inscriptions have been found on pottery in a variety of locations in China, such as Banpo near Xi'an, as well as on bone and bone marrows at Hualouzi, Chang'an County near Xi'an. These simple, often ge ...

Yellow River civilization Stone sickle, Peiligang culture (7000–5000 BC)">Peiligang_culture.html" ;"title="sickle, Peiligang culture">sickle, Peiligang culture (7000–5000 BC) Yellow River civilization or Huanghe civilization (), Hwan‐huou civilization is an anc ...

* Jiahu symbols –

Peiligang culture The Peiligang culture was a Neolithic culture in the Luo River (Henan), Yi-Luo river basin (in modern Henan, Henan Province, China) that existed from 7000 to 5000 BC. Over 100 sites have been identified with the Peiligang culture, nearly all o ...

, from China, c. 6600 - 6200 BC. *

Damaidi symbols Damaidi (; ''literally: Big wheat field''), is the location of 3,172 sets of early Chinese petroglyphs, carved into the cliffs which feature 8,453 individual figures. Cliff carving expert Li Xiangshi stated that "The pictographs are similar to ...

Damaidi Damaidi (; ''literally: Big wheat field''), is the location of 3,172 sets of early Chinese petroglyphs, carved into the cliffs which feature 8,453 individual figures. Cliff carving expert Li Xiangshi stated that "The pictographs are similar to ...

, from China, earliest estimated dates range from

Paleolithic The Paleolithic or Palaeolithic (), also called the Old Stone Age (from Greek: παλαιός ''palaios'', "old" and λίθος ''lithos'', "stone"), is a period in human prehistory that is distinguished by the original development of stone too ...

to c. 3000 years ago *

Dadiwan symbols The Dadiwan culture (c. 7900–7200 BP) was a Neolithic culture located primarily in the eastern portion of Gansu and Shaanxi provinces in modern China. The culture takes its name from the deepest cultural layer found during the original excavat ...

Dadiwan The Dadiwan culture (c. 7900–7200 BP) was a Neolithic culture located primarily in the eastern portion of Gansu and Shaanxi provinces in modern China. The culture takes its name from the deepest cultural layer found during the original excavat ...

, from China, c. 5800 - 5400 BC. *

Banpo symbols Since the second half of the 20th century, inscriptions have been found on pottery in a variety of locations in China, such as Banpo near Xi'an, as well as on bone and bone marrows at Hualouzi, Chang'an County near Xi'an. These simple, often geo ...

–

Yangshao culture The Yangshao culture (仰韶文化, pinyin: Yǎngsháo wénhuà) was a Neolithic culture that existed extensively along the middle reaches of the Yellow River in China from around 5000 BC to 3000 BC. The culture is named after the Yangsh ...

, from China, 5th millennium BC. *

Jiangzhai symbols Jiangzhai () is a Banpo phase Yangshao culture archaeological site in the east of Xi'an, where the earliest copper artifacts in China were found. The Jiangzhai site is located on the east bank of the Lin River in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi ...

, from China, 4th millennium BC. *

Dawenkou symbols Since the second half of the 20th century, inscriptions have been found on pottery in a variety of locations in China, such as Banpo near Xi'an, as well as on bone and bone marrows at Hualouzi, Chang'an County near Xi'an. These simple, often geo ...

Dawenkou culture The Dawenkou culture was a Chinese Neolithic culture primarily located in the eastern province of Shandong, but also appearing in Anhui, Henan and Jiangsu. The culture existed from 4300 to 2600 BC, and co-existed with the Yangshao culture. Turquoi ...

, c. 2800 - 2500 BC. *

Longshan symbols Since the second half of the 20th century, inscriptions have been found on pottery in a variety of locations in China, such as Banpo near Xi'an, as well as on bone and bone marrows at Hualouzi, Chang'an County near Xi'an. These simple, often geom ...

Longshan culture The Longshan (or Lung-shan) culture, also sometimes referred to as the Black Pottery Culture, was a late Neolithic culture in the middle and lower Yellow River valley areas of northern China from about 3000 to 1900 BC. The first archaeological fi ...

, from China, c. 2500 - 1900 BC.

Yangtze civilization Yangtze civilization () is a generic name for various ancient Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures from the Yangtze basin of China, the representative civilization of the Chinese alongside the Yellow River civilization. Cultures Upper Yangtze * ...

Wucheng symbols Wu Cheng or Wucheng may refer to: People *Emperor Wucheng of Northern Qi (537–569), emperor of the Northern Qi dynasty * Wu Cheng (Wuyue) (893–965), chancellor of the Wuyue Kingdom * Wu Cheng (philosopher) (1249–1333), philosopher during the ...

Wucheng culture The Wucheng culture (吳城文化) was a Bronze Age archaeological culture in Jiangxi, China. The initial site, spread out over , was discovered at Wucheng Township, Jiangxi. Located on the Gan River, the site was first excavated in 1973. The Wuche ...

, from China, c. 1600 BC Other areas * Sawveh -

Guangxi Guangxi (; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of the People's Republic ...

, from China; possible proto-writing or writing File:Jiahu writing.svg, Jiahu symbols File:Banpo pottery symbols.svg, Banpo symbols File:Eleven characters found at Dinggong in Shandong.svg, Longshan symbols File:出土刻画文示例.png, Sawveh

Neolithic signs in Europe

* Dispilio Tablet –

Neolithic Europe The European Neolithic is the period when Neolithic (New Stone Age) technology was present in Europe, roughly between 7000 BCE (the approximate time of the first farming societies in Greece) and c.2000–1700 BCE (the beginning of the Bronze Age ...

, from Greece, c. 5202 BC. *

Vinča symbols The Vinča symbols, sometimes known as the Danube script, Vinča signs, Vinča script, Vinča–Turdaș script, Old European script, etc., are a set of untranslated symbols found on Neolithic era (6th to 5th millennium BC) artifacts from the Vi ...

–

, from Central Europe and Southeastern Europe, c. 4500 BC - 4000 BC. File:Dispilio tablet text.png, Dispilio tablet File:Vinca vessel.png, Vinca symbols

Afro-Eurasian scripts

South Asia

Indus script The Indus script, also known as the Harappan script, is a corpus of symbols produced by the Indus Valley Civilisation. Most inscriptions containing these symbols are extremely short, making it difficult to judge whether or not they constituted ...

, c. 3300 BC to 1900 BC. * Vikramkhol inscription, c. 1500 BC *

Megalithic graffiti symbols Megalithic markings, megalithic graffiti marks, megalithic symbols or non-Brahmi symbols are markings found on mostly potsherds found in Central India, South India and Sri Lanka during the Megalithic Iron Age period. A number of scholars have tr ...

, c. 1000 BC - 300 AD, possible writing system and possible descendant of

* Pushkarasari script –

Gandhara Gandhāra is the name of an ancient region located in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, more precisely in present-day north-west Pakistan and parts of south-east Afghanistan. The region centered around the Peshawar Vall ...

, 3rd century BC to 8th century AD. * Shankhalipi, c. 4th to 8th century File:Indus script.jpg, Indus script File:Bikramkhol .jpg, Vikramkhol inscription File:Kohi or Pushkarasari M Nasim Khan.jpg, Pushkarasari script File:Inscr detail.jpg, Shankhalipi

West Asia

Proto-Elamite The Proto-Elamite period, also known as Susa III, is a chronological era in the ancient history of the area of Elam, dating from . In archaeological terms this corresponds to the late Banesh period. Proto-Elamite sites are recognized as the oldest ...

, c. 3200 BC *

Byblos syllabary The Byblos script, also known as the Byblos syllabary, Pseudo-hieroglyphic script, Proto-Byblian, Proto-Byblic, or Byblic, is an undeciphered writing system, known from ten inscriptions found in Byblos, a coastal city in Lebanon. The inscription ...

– the city of Byblos, c. 1700 BC *

Cypro-Minoan syllabary The Cypro-Minoan syllabary (CM) is an undeciphered syllabary used on the island of Cyprus during the late Bronze Age (c. 1550–1050 BC). The term "Cypro-Minoan" was coined by Arthur Evans in 1909 based on its visual similarity to Linear A on M ...

, c. 1550 BC * Para-Lydian script, known from a single inscription found in

Sardis Synagogue Sardis Synagogue is a synagogue located in Manisa Province, Turkey, and it is the biggest known synagogue that belongs to ancient world. Sardis was under numerous foreign rulers until its incorporation into the Roman Empire in 133 BCE. The city ...

, c. 400–350 BC. *

Sidetic script The Sidetic language is a member of the extinct Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family known from legends of coins dating to the period of approximately the 5th to 3rd centuries BCE found in Side at the Pamphylian coast, and two Gr ...

–

Asia Minor Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

, c. 5th to 3rd centuries BC. File:Proto-Elamite tablet.jpg, Proto-Elamite script File:Byblos syll spat e.png, Byblos syllabry File:Tablet cypro-minoan 2 Louvre AM2336.jpg, Cypro-Minoan syllabry File:Sidetic language inscriptions.jpg, Sidetic script

East Asia

* Ba–Shu scripts, 5th to 4th century BC. *

Khitan large script The Khitan large script () was one of two writing systems used for the now-extinct Khitan language (the other was the Khitan small script). It was used during the 10th–12th centuries by the Khitan people, who had created the Liao Empire in nor ...

and

Khitan small script The Khitan small script () was one of two writing systems used for the now-extinct Khitan language (the other was the Khitan large script). It was used during the 10th–12th century by the Khitan people, who had created the Liao Empire in present- ...

– Khitan, 10th century, not fully deciphered. * Tujia script File:Mao spearhead with Ba symbols.jpg, Ba script File:Zuling Khitan Large Script Fragment A.jpg, Khitan large script File:Khitan Small Script Bronze Mirror.JPG, Khitan small script File:Possible Tujia script cropped.jpg, Tujia script

Southeast Asia

Singapore Stone The Singapore Stone is a fragment of a large sandstone slab which originally stood at the mouth of the Singapore River. The large slab, which is believed to date back to at least the 13th century and possibly as early as the 10th or 11th centu ...

, a fragment of a

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

slab inscribed with an ancient

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

n script, perhaps

Old Javanese Old Javanese or Kawi is the oldest attested phase of the Javanese language. It was spoken in the eastern part of what is now Central Java and the whole of East Java, Indonesia. As a literary language, Kawi was used across Java and on the island ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

. At least 13th century, and possibly as early as 10th to 11th century File:SingaporeStone-bwphoto.jpg, Singapore Stone

Central Asia

* Issyk inscription, Kazakhstan, c. 4th century BC File:Issyk inscription.png, Issyk inscription

Europe

Cretan hieroglyphs Cretan hieroglyphs are a hieroglyphic writing system used in early Bronze Age Crete, during the Minoan era. They predate Linear A by about a century, but the two writing systems continued to be used in parallel for most of their history. , they ...

, c. 2100 BC. **Linear A and Cretan hieroglyphs are both believed to be an example of the

Minoan language The Minoan language is the language (or languages) of the ancient Minoan civilization of Crete written in the Cretan hieroglyphs and later in the Linear A syllabary. As the Cretan hieroglyphs are undeciphered and Linear A only partly deciphered, ...

. Several words have been decoded from the scripts, but no definite conclusions on the meanings of the words have been made. *

Phaistos Disc The Phaistos Disc (also spelled Phaistos Disk, Phaestos Disc) is a disk of fired clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos on the island of Crete, possibly dating to the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age (second millennium BC). The disk is about ...

, c. 2000 BC. *

Linear A Linear A is a writing system that was used by the Minoans of Crete from 1800 to 1450 BC to write the hypothesized Minoan language or languages. Linear A was the primary script used in palace and religious writings of the Minoan civil ...

, c. 1800 BC, a syllabary * Grakliani Hill script -

Grakliani Hill Grakliani Hill ( ka, გრაკლიანი გორა, ''Grakliani Gora'') is an archaeological excavation site in eastern Georgia near Kaspi, showing evidence of human presence possibly going back 300,000 years. The site was discovered ...

, c. 11th - 10th century BC *

Paleohispanic scripts The Paleohispanic scripts are the writing systems created in the Iberian peninsula before the Latin alphabet became the main script. Most of them are unusual in that they are semi-syllabic rather than purely alphabetic, despite having su ...

Southwest Paleohispanic script The Southwest Script or Southwestern Script, also known as Tartessian or South Lusitanian, is a Paleohispanic script used to write an unknown language usually identified as Tartessian. Southwest inscriptions have been found mainly in the sout ...

, from c. 700 BC * Sitovo inscription *

Alekanovo inscription The Alekanovo inscription is a group of Undeciphered writing systems, undeciphered characters found in the fall of 1897 in the Russian village of Alekanovo (Ryazan Oblast), Alekanovo (Ryazan Oblast) by Russian archeologist Vasily Gorodtsov. The ch ...

, c. 10th - 11th century *

Rohonc Codex The Rohonc Codex () is an illustrated manuscript book by an unknown author, with a text in an unknown language and writing system, that surfaced in Hungary in the early 19th century. The book's origin and the meaning of its text and illustrations ...

* Folio 7r-v of British Library manuscript MS 73525, pre-1550, possibly liturgical. *

Voynich manuscript The Voynich manuscript is an illustrated codex hand-written in an otherwise unknown writing system, referred to as 'Voynichese'. The vellum on which it is written has been carbon-dated to the early 15th century (1404–1438), and stylistic anal ...

, carbon dated to the 15th century. * The Newton Stone, which is alleged by some scholars to be modern forgery * Some scholars consider the corpus of

Pictish symbol stones A Pictish stone is a type of monumental stele, generally carved or incised with symbols or designs. A few have ogham inscriptions. Located in Scotland, mostly north of the Clyde- Forth line and on the Eastern side of the country, these stones ar ...

to be an undeciphered writing system File:Pini-plombe-orig-II2 316d 3.2.jpg, Cretan hieroglyphs File:0726 La Canée musée linéaire A.JPG, Linear A File:Crete - Phaistos disk - side A.JPG, Phaistos disc File:Southwest Iberian script (Valerio 2008).png, Southwest Paleohispanic Script File:Sitovski nadpis.JPG, Sitovo inscription File:British Library Add MS 73525.png, Folio 7r of MS 73525 File:British Library Add MS 73525 f7v.png, Folio 7v of MS 73525

North Africa

* The Starving of Saqqara - possibly dating to

pre-dynastic Egypt Prehistoric Egypt and Predynastic Egypt span the period from the earliest human settlement to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period around 3100 BC, starting with the first Pharaoh Pharaoh (, ; Egyptian: '' pr ꜥꜣ''; cop, , Pǝ ...

Ancient inscriptions in Somalia Encyclopedias from ca. 1900 note that ancient tombs, pyramidal structures, ruined towns, and stone walls found in Somalia, such as the Wargaade Wall, are evidence of an old civilization in the Somali peninsula that predates Islam. In an 1878 repo ...

, According to the Ministry of Information and National Guidance of Somalia, inscriptions can be found on various old ''Taalo Tiiriyaad'' structures. These are enormous stone mounds found especially in northeastern Somalia. Among the main sites where these Taalo are located are Xabaalo Ambiyad in

Alula District Alula District ( so, Caluula District) is a district in the northeastern Bari region of Somalia. Its capital lies at Alula. This district contains Cape Guardafui, the very northeastern tip of the Horn of Africa. In the northeast, it faces the Gua ...

, Baar Madhere in Beledweyne District, and Harti Yimid in

Las Anod District Las Anod District ( so, Degmada Laascaanood) is a district in the eastern Sool region of Somaliland. It has its capital at Las Anod. Other settlements include Yagori, Adhi'adeye, Bo'ame, Tukaraq Tukaraq is a small village in the eastern Sool r ...

.Ministry of Information and National Guidance, Somalia,
The writing of the Somali language: A Great Landmark in Our Revolutionary History
', (Ministry of Information and National Guidance: 1974) *

Numidian language Numidian was a language spoken in ancient Numidia, a territory covering much of northern Africa. The script in which it was written, the Libyco-Berber alphabet (from which Tifinagh descended), has been almost fully deciphered and most characters ...

(although the script,

Libyco-Berber The Libyco-Berber alphabet or the Libyc alphabet (modern Berber name: ''Agemmay Alibu-Maziɣ'') is an abjad writing system that was used during the first millennium BC by various Berber peoples of North Africa and the Canary Islands, to write an ...

, has been almost fully deciphered, the language has not) *

Meroitic language The Meroitic language () was spoken in Meroë (in present-day Sudan) during the Meroitic period (attested from 300 BCE) and became extinct about 400 CE. It was written in two forms of the Meroitic alphabet: Meroitic Cursive, which was written wit ...

, c. 300 BC to 400 AD, though the Meroitic script is largely deciphered, the underlying language is not. *

Ṣǝḥuf ʾǝmni inscription The Ṣǝḥuf ʾǝmni inscription ( ti, ጽሑፍ እምኒ, ', 'inscribed stone') is an undeciphered stone inscription located in Qoḥayn in Eritrea. It is listed under no. 183 in the ''Recueil des inscriptions de l'Éthiopie des périodes pré ...

(although written in the well-known

South Arabian script The Ancient South Arabian script (Old South Arabian 𐩣𐩯𐩬𐩵 ''ms3nd''; modern ar, الْمُسْنَد ''musnad'') branched from the Proto-Sinaitic script in about the late 2nd millennium BCE. It was used for writing the Old South ...

, the language has not yet been identified) File:Prehistory-draa16.jpg, Libyco-Berber File:Meroitische Inschrift, Meroe 1. Jh. n. Chr., Aegyptisches Museum, Muenchen-1.jpg, Meroitic script

Sub-Saharan Africa

* Ikom monoliths –

Cross River State ) , image_map = Nigeria - Cross River.svg , map_alt = , map_caption = Location of Cross River State in Nigeria , coordinates = , coor_pinpoint ...

, sometimes believed to be an ancient precursor to

Nsibidi Nsibidi (also known as nsibiri, nchibiddi or nchibiddy) is a system of symbols or proto-writing developed in what is now the far South of Nigeria. They are classified as pictograms, though there have been suggestions that some are logograms or sy ...

. * Eghap script –

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, c. 1900, partially deciphered File:Ikom monolith, Calabar Museum.jpg, Ikom monoliths

American scripts

Andean South America

Khipu ''Quipu'' (also spelled ''khipu'') are recording devices fashioned from strings historically used by a number of cultures in the region of Andean South America. A ''quipu'' usually consisted of cotton or camelid fiber strings. The Inca people ...

– Inka Empire and predecessor states, like the

Wari Empire The Wari Empire or Huari Empire was a political formation that emerged around 600 CE in Peru's Ayacucho Basin and grew to cover much of coastal and highland Peru. The empire lasted for about 500 years, until 1100 CE. It existed during the same era ...

or the Caral-Supe Civilization, c. 2600 BC - 17th century, with some variants still in use today; it could possibly be a writing system or a set of writing systems. File:Inca Quipu.jpg, Khipu

Mesoamerica

Olmec The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that t ...

(

Cascajal Block The Cascajal Block is a tablet-sized writing slab in Mexico, made of serpentinite, which has been dated to the early first millennium BCE, incised with hitherto unknown characters that may represent the earliest writing system in the New World. A ...

) –

Olmec civilization The Olmecs () were the earliest known major Mesoamerican civilization. Following a progressive development in Soconusco, they occupied the tropical lowlands of the modern-day Mexican states of Veracruz and Tabasco. It has been speculated that t ...

, c. 900 BC, possibly the oldest Mesoamerican script, if proven authentic. * Isthmian, c. 500 BC–500 AD, apparently logosyllabic. Possible ancestor of the

Maya script Maya script, also known as Maya glyphs, is historically the native writing system of the Maya civilization of Mesoamerica and is the only Mesoamerican writing system that has been substantially deciphered. The earliest inscriptions found which ...

. * Zapotec – Zapotec. Possibly logosyllabic, c. 500 BC–700 AD. *

Teotihuacan Teotihuacan (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Teotihuacán'') (; ) is an ancient Mesoamerican city located in a sub-valley of the Valley of Mexico, which is located in the State of Mexico, northeast of modern-day Mexico City. Teotihuacan is ...

. Possibly descended from the Zapotec script, and itself being the probable ancestor of the

Post-classic Mesoamerican chronology divides the history of prehispanic Mesoamerica into several periods: the Paleo-Indian (first human habitation until 3500 BCE); the Archaic (before 2600 BCE), the Preclassic or Formative (2500 BCE – ...

Mixtec and Aztec scripts, c. 100 BC - 700 AD. *

Mixtec The Mixtecs (), or Mixtecos, are indigenous Mesoamerican peoples of Mexico inhabiting the region known as La Mixteca of Oaxaca and Puebla as well as La Montaña Region and Costa Chica Regions of the state of Guerrero. The Mixtec Culture wa ...

–

, 14th century, pictographic, with phonetic elements related specifically to the Mixtec languages which work in a similar way as the Aztec script. It also includes tonal determiners, since the Mixtec languages are tonal. Many of the pictographic elements of the script are well-understood, but semantic and linguistic components are less well known. File:Cascajal-text.svg, Cascajal block File:La Mojarra Inscription and Long Count date.jpg, Isthmian script File:Oaxaca de Juárez, Monte Albán 05.jpg, Zapotec script File:Glifo Puh.svg, Teotihuacan glyph File:Mixtecwriting.gif, Mixtec Script

Pacific scripts

Rongorongo Rongorongo (Rapa Nui: ) is a system of glyphs discovered in the 19th century on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) that appears to be writing or proto-writing. Numerous attempts at decipherment have been made, with none being successful. Although some c ...

–

Rapa Nui Easter Island ( rap, Rapa Nui; es, Isla de Pascua) is an island and special territory of Chile in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian Triangle in Oceania. The island is most famous for its nearly ...

(aka Easter Island), before 1860. File:Rongorongo_B-v_Aruku-Kurenga_(color)_edit1.jpg, Rongorongo

Related concepts: texts that are not writing systems

One very similar concept is that of false writing systems, which appear to be writing but are not. False writing cannot be deciphered because it has no

semantic Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...

meaning. These particularly include

asemic writing Asemic may refer to: * Asemia Asemia is the term for the medical condition of being unable to understand or express any signs or symbols. It is a more severe condition than aphasia, which is the inability to understand linguistic signs. Asemia i ...

created for artistic purposes. One prominent example is the ''

Codex Seraphinianus The ''Codex Seraphinianus'', originally published in 1981, is an illustrated encyclopedia of an imaginary world, created by Italian artist, architect and industrial designer Luigi Serafini between 1976 and 1978. It is approximately 360 pages (dep ...

''. Another similar concept is that of undeciphered

cryptogram A cryptogram is a type of puzzle that consists of a short piece of encrypted text. Generally the cipher used to encrypt the text is simple enough that the cryptogram can be solved by hand. Substitution ciphers where each letter is replaced by ...

s, or

cipher In cryptography, a cipher (or cypher) is an algorithm for performing encryption or decryption—a series of well-defined steps that can be followed as a procedure. An alternative, less common term is ''encipherment''. To encipher or encode i ...

messages. These are not writing systems ''per se'', but a disguised form of another text. Of course any cryptogram is intended to be undecipherable by anyone except the intended recipient so vast numbers of these exist, but a few examples have become famous and are listed in

list of ciphertexts Some famous ciphertexts (or cryptograms), in chronological order by date, are: See also * Undeciphered writing systems (cleartext, natural-language writing of unknown meaning) External links * Elonka Dunin Elonka Dunin (; born December ...

References

External links

Proto-Elamite (CDLI link)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Undeciphered Writing Systems