The Indus Valley Civilisation existed between 5000 BCE and 1500 BCE in the northwestern part of India. When it declined, its people started moving towards east and south. The script that was used by the people of this civilization has been termed the Indus script. Experts have speculated that it could be that of a Dravidian language.
Now, the ‘graffiti marks’ on the artefacts obtained from the Keezhadi excavation site point to a link between the scripts of the Indus Valley Civilization and Tamil-Brahmi. According to the report: One kind of script that survived in the time period between the disappearance of the Indus script and the emergence of the Brahmi script has been referred to as graffiti by the scholars. These marks, they believe, have evolved or transformed from the Indus script and served as the precursor to the Brahmi script. Therefore, these graffiti cannot be dismissed as mere scratches. Besides, like the Indus script, this also could not be deciphered till date. Among the scripts available with India, the Indus script is considered to be the earliest. After the decline of the script and before the emergence of the Brahmi script, there seemed to be a gap. Researchers note that this graffiti could fill that gap.
Picture Credit : Google