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'''Decipherment''' is the analysis of documents written in ancient
languages, 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 document decipherment:
*
Cuneiform writing
*
Harappan writing
*
Egyptian hieroglyphic writing
*
Indus script
*
Linear A
*
Linear B
*
Maya writing
*
Olmec writing
Famous documents that have been the subject of actual or attempted decipherment:
* the
Dresden Codex
* the
Phaistos Disc
* the
Rosetta Stone
* the
Behistun Inscription
* the
Voynich Manuscript
* the
Rohonczi Codex
Famous decipherers:
*
Michael Ventris
*
Jean-Franois Champollion
*
Georg Friedrich Grotefend
*
Yuri Knorosov
==See also==
*
Archaeology
*
Linguistics
*
List of undeciphered languages
*
List of famous ciphertexts
==External links==
*
Ancient Languages and Scripts
*
http://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~fsaber1/language/MysteryCuneiform.html
