Cotton, Sesame, and Copper: Five Thousand Years of Silence Broken — Decoding the Harappan Script as a Bronze Age Trade Certification System
Le résumé fourni par la source
We present Compositional Position Theory (CPT), a framework for partial decipherment of the Harappan script based on the systematic positional distribution of signs across the inscription corpus. CPT proposes that Harappan texts encode Proto-Dravidian trade vocabulary through a three-position grammar: an authority HEADER sign at text-beginning, commodity or guild signs in MEDIAL position, and a certification TERMINAL sign at text-end. We identify 15 signs with high-confidence Proto-Dravidian etymologies covering approximately 52% of corpus sign occurrences by frequency. We present 27 complete inscription readings across four IVC sites and four named Mesopotamian cities, document 16 grammar variants, and perform the first vector-geometric analysis of the Dholavira Signboard, reading the world’s oldest known civic inscription as ‘the seasonal tribute citadel’ at 72% confidence. This version additionally presents 9 further readings, a 16th grammar variant (compound-commodity certification), a dual positional function for Sign M77-245† (*kottam), and confirmation that 16 of the 17 confirmed West Asian inscriptions (inscriptions 9801–9905, across Telloh, Kish, Susa, and Ur) display grammar identical to IVC usage 2,500 km distant. Folk and regional languages across the IVC geographic zone preserve pre-Aryan substrate forms for cotton, ivory, seasonal measure, and fortified enclosure, constituting a sixth converging line of evidence. These results constitute the strongest systematic evidence to date for a trade-administrative function of the Harappan script decipherable through Proto-Dravidian positional analysis.
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