Rätsel gelöst! Archäologische Sensation: Kuschana-Schrift entschlüsselt | Terra X

Summary

The video explains how writing developed, how undeciphered scripts can be understood, and how a new inscription in Tajikistan helped researchers read the Kushan script.

Writing and decipherment

• Writing emerged about 5,000 years ago as expanding states and larger communities needed reliable ways to keep records, including crop yields and taxes.
• Recognizing written characters involves the brain detecting patterns and shapes, but recognizing a character’s outline alone does not reveal its meaning. Researchers also need linguistic clues.
• Linguist Svenja Bonmann and colleagues approached the Kushan script by looking for repeated sequences of signs. Repeated patterns can suggest recurring words or phrases and help identify a language.
• The team compared the script with known ancient languages of Central Asia, including Bactrian and Greek, and considered whether a common word such as “king” might appear in multiple inscriptions.

The breakthrough

• The Kushan Empire was a powerful ancient state spanning parts of Central Asia and northern India. Its position on the Silk Road brought wealth and contact among different peoples and cultures.
• In summer 2022, researchers learned of an inscription carved high in the mountains of Tajikistan. A second inscription nearby, written in Bactrian using Greek letters, provided a readable parallel.
• Comparing the two inscriptions—especially a reference to the “King of Kings” and a royal name—gave researchers the key to reading the Kushan signs. The script appears to represent a previously unknown Iranian language.
• The video compares the discovery with the Rosetta Stone, whose parallel texts helped scholars decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs. Bilingual or trilingual inscriptions can serve as bridges between an unknown script and a known language.

The expedition and archaeological investigation

• Bonmann and Tajik archaeologist Bobomulo Bobomuloev travel with other researchers to the remote site. The journey through the Almosi Gorge is difficult, and the expedition receives support from Tajik disaster-relief personnel.
• The team examines the inscribed rocks and surrounding landscape:
  • Linguists inspect the inscriptions and distinguish signs from natural marks.
  • Researchers search for fragments among stones, including rubble left by what may have been an earthquake.
  • At the damaged Bactrian inscription, they look for surviving or previously unnoticed characters. Direct inspection under changing light can reveal details that photographs miss.
  • A drone survey helps document a rectangular stone structure behind the inscribed rocks.
• Tajik archaeologists had found burials at the structure during earlier work. Its size and remote location lead researchers to consider whether it could be a cemetery for important people.
• Bonmann also finds the name of King Vema/Wema Takhtu on the back of one of the inscribed rocks. The location and nearby structure raise the possibility that the site is connected to his burial place, but the video stresses that this remains unproven and requires further investigation.

Speakers and sources featured

• Unnamed narrator: Presents the history of writing, the decipherment, and the expedition.
• Svenja Bonmann: Linguist working on the Kushan script; explains the language-comparison approach and comments on the inscriptions and possible royal burial site.
• Bobomulo Bobomuloev: Tajik archaeologist who documented the inscription and leads archaeological surveying at the site.
• Other unnamed linguists and researchers: Discuss language comparisons, repeated signs, and the interpretation of the inscriptions.
• Tajik disaster-relief personnel: Assist with access to the site and with examining and moving rubble.
• Historical comparison: The Rosetta Stone and its parallel Egyptian and Greek texts are used to explain how bilingual inscriptions can enable decipherment.