The race to decode a mysterious language - Susan Lupack

Dig into the mysterious Linear B symbols, found on ancient tablets on the island of Crete, which took scholars nearly 50 years to decode.

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In the early 1900s, archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans uncovered nearly 3,000 tablets inscribed with strange symbols. He thought the script, dubbed Linear B, represented the Minoan language, while others came up with their own theories. Was it the lost language of the Etruscans? Or an early form of Basque? Its meaning would elude scholars for 50 years. Susan Lupack explores the mysterious inscriptions.

Lesson by Susan Lupack, directed by Movult.

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[priyanshuranjan]

Moral of the story: if you don't wanna die soon then don't mess with linear B.

[ShauryaSingh-tsoc]

She: Why don't you get my signs?
Her signs:

[sebastianelytron]

Ancient scripts are very confusing. It's all Greek to me.

[neelanjanaanne]

I was wondering now, how many historians are gonna dedicate their life to solving this 2nd puzzle . 🤔

[zestiestzest]

🌎🇬🇷 👨‍🚀"Wait it's all Greek?" 🔫👨‍🚀"Always has been"

[JaybeePenaflor]

Hats off to the scholars and linguists who devoted their time and efforts in deciphering some of our ancient languages. While it's true that for some of these ancient scripts there were records inscribed on manuscripts together with known languages that aided in translation (e.g., the Rosetta Stone and the Behistun Rock), the labor to actually perform the linguistic analysis is still intensive. I hope through research and mathematics, we can improve our linguistic tools even further and, we can finally decode other languages such as those in the ancient writings in Mohenjo-Daro as well as the bewildering Voynich manuscript.

[hautakleightontam]

*You thought you had discovered a completely new language, but it was ME! GREEK!*

[Julia-vqli]

When you’re trying to read through your class notes:

[nexo]

Imagine how many language have died and never discovered

[matheusmagno]

“Language is the foundation of civilization. It is a glue that holds people together, and it is the first weapon drawn in a conflict.”

[gabrielleangelobautista]

Deciphering an ancient writing really opens a window to lost cultures and civilizations, but there will come a time that our way of writing will be someday undecipherable and there will be people that will decipher it

[gekylafas]

Being a software engineer, I was particularly thrilled when while reading about Linear B I found out the the word for "data" (de-do-me-na) has remained unaltered for 3.000+ years, from Mycenaean to Modern Greek.

[sasidharankarthikeyan]

1:34 That Sanskrit sentence means "I don't understand". Ted ed, that's some craftily placed Easter egg.

[jcbgy]

What a legend, learning multiple languages just to decode one mysterious one. I can't even speak my own language fluently

[BhanuPChauhan]

That language is cursed, for everyone who tries to decipher it dies in some way.

[ashnahkhalidkhan]

I never thought I'd find something so educational so interesting. TED-Ed, you inspire curiosity in the best of ways. The people behind this whole platform are invaluable.

[liaarfianti]

I love how people in World War times still have the chance to research something, big or small--even if it unrelated to the war at that time.
And yes, it's seemed like the linear B brought its own 'curse', but at least their name was remembered forever in history.

[batyahazi]

Isn’t it interesting how they both died before being able to complete their work...

[SeekersofUnity]

The artfulness of this animation is pure magic.

[aaronm]

You have to be a literal genius to decode a dead language. The fact that they can figure out the sounds, and what the letters individually are is insane. Curious how accurate they are, if they truly decipher it.