A long-overlooked writing system from 5000 years ago is still largely undeciphered, but could mark the moment humans first ...

Prefer Newsweek on Google to see more of our trusted coverage when you search. Researchers have managed to decode an ancient script that scholars have been unable to understand for decades. In a study ...

Researchers have partially deciphered the "unknown Kushan script" — a writing system that has puzzled linguists since it was first found in the 1950s. The researchers decoded the ancient text using ...

Over the past century, archaeologists have uncovered more than 1,600 Proto-Elamite inscriptions, but only about 43 in Linear Elamite, scattered widely across Iran. Illustration by Meilan Solly / ...

The room we are in is locked. It is windowless and lit from above by a fluorescent bulb. In the hallway outside—two stories beneath the city of London—attendants in dark suits patrol silently, giving ...

A fish under a roof. A stick figure without a head. A series of lines that look like a garden rake. These symbols are part of an entirely undeciphered script from a sophisticated ancient civilization ...

Deciphering a previously unknown script could unlock a better understanding of the ancient Kushan Empire of Central Asia. The unknown Kushan script was found in the 1950s, but only understood this ...