Several years ago, my linguistic research team and I began developing a computational tool we call "Read-y Grammarian." Our goal was to reconstruct the highly fragmentary text of the Singapore Stone, ...

The Inca Empire managed vast territories without a written alphabet, relying instead on a mysterious system of knotted strings known as the khipu. Once dismissed as simple accounting tools, new ...

From deciphering burnt Roman scrolls to reading crumbling cuneiform tablets, neural networks could give researchers more data than they’ve had in centuries. In October 2023, an e-mail pinged onto ...

From bizarre ancient markings to random numbers and letters, codes and ciphers have been used for millennia to send secret messages, hide identities and operate outside the law. Unravelling these ...

The telegraph without wire -- An extension of mouth : how the bàtá talks -- Other voices : the Omele Méta and the Ìyáàlù Dùndún -- Speaking in codes : Enà Bàtá -- Epilogue: Bàtá is the mouthpiece of ...