Bad linguistics: the Indus script

A recent article in Science aims to prove that the undeciphered Indus script is in fact a written language, rather than a simple-series of signs as is the common consensus. This is part of an ongoing battle between Hindu nationalist academics, for whom proof of written language would be a major status-boost, and other researchers in the field. As with other attempts to prove this case in the past (e.g. a claim in 2000 to have deciphered the script based on faked imagery), this case is also appears to be based on deliberate misuse of data. A full refutation of the paper can be found here, but it basically boils down to the comparative data being used in the study being completely inappropriate and designed to get the desired result. It is worrying that a journal such as Science has accepted an article of this quality, though less surprising that news agencies around the world have parroted its findings as gospel.

archaeology ethics hindutva indus valley politicsarchaeology ethics hindutva indus valley politics Published: 4.26.09 / 12am
Tags: archaeology, ethics, hindutva, indus valley, politics