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thestoplereffect t1_ja64goi wrote

Reply to comment by ManannanMacLir74 in 4,500-year-old Sumerian temple dedicated to mighty thunder god discovered in Iraq. by Rifletree

If it's not a script what could it be?

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ManannanMacLir74 t1_ja6hppo wrote

I don't know but this is the same problem with the script of the Vinca culture which predates Mesopotamia.Some scholars say it's a script and other's say it's not

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vmp916 t1_ja6juw7 wrote

How came some say it’s a script while others say it’s not? A representation of a spoken language which in modern day would be script but back then it could mean representation of sounds or meanings behind sounds. How is that not a script?

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Flammenschwert t1_ja80dob wrote

There's kind of a big muddy area between abstract symbols and a full on script, which is specifically symbols representing spoken language. They may have had symbolic meaning without directly standing in for language. For an example in the modern world, a roadsign indicating a turn has symbolic meaning, but that doesn't make it a script. The Nike logo definitely stands for a particular meaning, but it's not part of a script either. It's unknown whether or not the Indus Valley script is a proper script or if it has non-language symbolic meaning.

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