Decipherment
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Robertolyra
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{{redirect|Decipher}}
'''Decipherment''' is the analysis of documents written in ancient [[language]]s, where the language is unknown, or knowledge of the language has been lost.
It is closely related to [[cryptanalysis]] — the difference being that the original document was not deliberately written to be difficult to decipher.
The term has also been used to describe the analysis of the [[genetic code]] information encoded in [[DNA]] - see the [[Human Genome Project]] article for more on this.
Some people have also used the word metaphorically to mean something like 'understanding'.
Examples of script decipherment:
* [[Cuneiform script]]
* [[Egyptian hieroglyphs]]
* [[Kharoshthi|Kharoshthi script]]
* [[Linear B]]
* [[Maya script]]
Famous documents that have been the subject of actual or attempted decipherment:
* the [[Behistun Inscription]]
* the [[Dresden Codex]]
* the [[Edicts of Ashoka]]
* the [[Phaistos Disc]]
* the [[Rohonc Codex]]
* the [[Rosetta Stone]]
* the [[Voynich Manuscript]]
Famous decipherers:
* [[Jean-François Champollion]]
* [[Georg Friedrich Grotefend]]
* [[Yuri Knorozov]]
* [[Dhul-Nun al-Misri]]
* [[Michael Ventris]]
* [[Ibn Wahshiyya]]
==See also==
*[[Decipherment of rongorongo]]
*[[Indus script]]
* Decipherment of [[Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī|Al-Khwārizmī]] numerals [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Robertolyra]
==External links==
* [http://www.plu.edu/~ryandp/texts.html Ancient Languages and Scripts]
* http://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~fsaber1/language/MysteryCuneiform.html
*[http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mindusscript.html How come we can't decipher the Indus script?] (from [[The Straight Dope]])
[[Category:Cryptography]]
[[Category:Writing systems]]
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