Q. The Indus Valley Civilization has not been deciphered yet. Consider the following reasons: No knowledge about their language Small length of inscriptions Absence of bilingual texts Which among the above is/ are correct reasons?
Answer: 1, 2 & 3
Notes: The Indus Valley Civilization script has not been deciphered yet due to several reasons:

1. No knowledge about the language used by the Indus Valley people.
2. The inscriptions found are very short in length, with the average inscription having just 4-5 signs and the longest single inscription being only 17 signs.
3. There are no bilingual texts available to help decipher the script by comparing it to a known language.

Some scholars like Steve Farmer argue the symbols may not represent a full-fledged language due to the lack of long texts. However, other experts like Asko Parpola counter that the brevity of texts could be because only 10% of one site has been excavated, and longer texts may have been written on perishable materials like cloth or leaves that have not survived over time. Also, historical information that has helped decipher other ancient scripts is lacking for the Indus script, as it was forgotten long before earliest literary records of the region were composed. Overall, the main reasons the Indus script remains undeciphered are the lack of knowledge of the underlying language, very brief inscriptions found, and absence of bilingual texts to help decipher it.

1

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