For the reason that Nineteen Sixties, archaeologists in Central Asia have discovered rocks carved with a mysterious unknown language. Now, a group from the College of Cologne has deciphered the unknown script, revealing it emerged amongst merchants on the Silk Highway.

Based by the Kushan tribe, the Kushan Empire flourished from the first to third centuries AD. Spanning Central Asia and components of South Asia, Kushan faith was influenced by Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and Hinduism, which all penetrated Kushan tradition through commerce alongside the Silk Highway.

Cologne College was based in 1388 AD by Pope City VI, specializing in theology, philosophy and linguistics. Now, holding in alignment with the institute’s unique traditions, a analysis group from the College’s Department of Linguistics has decoded 60% of the traditional Kushan writing system often called the “Unknown Kushan Script.”

Map of the discover websites of the assorted inscriptions which have now been recognized by linguists as an historical Kushan language. (Bonmann, S. et. al. / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Decoding Clay Pots and Cave Partitions / Unknown Kushan Script

Based on UNESCO, each Sanskrit and Prakrit languages pre-date the Kushan Empire, and Bactrian and Sogdian have been spoken by the retailers who engaged in Silk Highway buying and selling throughout Central Asia. Nonetheless, whereas a lot is understood about these language programs, till now there remained a lot to be found in regards to the languages of the Kushan Empire.

The so-called “unknown Kushan script” was first recognized by archaeologists within the Nineteen Sixties, however now, Professor’s Svenja Bonmann, Jakob Halfmann and Natalie Korobzow have examined sections of the unknown script discovered on cave partitions, clay pots and bowls in a number of Central Asian nations.

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The group initially introduced their “partial” decipherment of the language on 1 March 2023, throughout a web based convention organized by the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tajikistan. Now, a brand new examine about their work has been revealed within the journal Transactions of the Philological Society below the title “A Partial Decipherment of the Unknown Kushan Script.”

Based on the brand new paper, the group have efficiently deciphered about 60% of the characters of the unknown Kushan language script that was extensively utilized in Central Asia between about 200 BC and 700 AD.

Stone 1 which was discovered at Almosi Gorge, in northwestern Tajikistan, included an inscription written within the unknown Kushan language script. (Bobomullo Bobomulloev / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Understanding Phonetic Properties of Kushan Language Turned the Key

A lot of the recognized historical Kushan language scripts have been present in modern-day Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Nonetheless, in 2021 a brief script was discovered carved right into a rock face within the Almosi Gorge, in northwestern Tajikistan. Not solely did this rock face characteristic a uncommon instance of unknown Kushan script, but it surely additionally held a small instance of the Bactrian language.

The College of Cologne group leaned on tried and examined means to decipher the traditional language, together with, for instance, the methodology used to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphs utilizing the Rosetta Stone.

An article in regards to the new examine on PHYS explains that the so-called breakthrough got here within the decipherment of the “royal title Vema Takhtu,” which was written in each Bactrian parallel texts. Then, the time period “King of Kings” was recognized within the corresponding sections.

The Kushan language examine mentioned these revelations “proved to be a very good indicator of the underlying language.” Utilizing Bactrian parallel textual content, the group then analyzed character sequences, revealing the person characters’ phonetic properties.

Nailing the Unknown Iranian Kushan Language

The brand new examine concludes that the unknown Kushan language script is “a totally unknown Center Iranian language, which is neither equivalent to Bactrian nor to the language often called Khotanese Saka, which was as soon as spoken in western China.” Moreover, it’s thought that the newly decoded language “most likely occupies a center place within the improvement between these languages,” based on the examine.

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Who then used this nearly misplaced and forgotten language? The researchers wrote that it might need been the language of the settled inhabitants of northern Bactria, which is now a part of Tajikistan. However additionally they speculated that it might need been utilized by the Yuèzhī nomadic teams in Inside Asia, who had originated in northwestern China.

The time period “king of varieties” was recognized in engravings written within the Kushan language script on this pattern from Almosi Goege (left) and Dašt-i Nāwur III. (Bonmann, S. et. al. / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Spreading Tradition and Language Alongside the Silk Highway

Lead creator Professor Svenja Bonmann mentioned her groups decipherment of this script will “assist improve our understanding of the language and cultural historical past of Central Asia and the Kushan Empire, much like the deciphering of the Egyptian hieroglyphs or Mayan glyphs for our understanding of historical Egypt or Mayan civilization.”

What the brand new examine primarily demonstrates is that this newly recognized Iranian language, that’s provisionally named “Eteo-Tocharian,” was one of many official languages utilized by the Kushan Empire. It additionally hypothesized that this historical system of communication was primarily utilized by merchants alongside the Silk Road concurrently the Bactrian, Gandhari/Center Indo-Aryan and Sanskrit languages.

High picture: Location of bilingual inscription, which helped linguists crack the traditional Kushan language, in Tajikistan. Supply: Bobomullo Bobomulloev / CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

By Ashley Cowie