Rajesh Rao: Computing a Rosetta Stone for the Indus script

Prevoditelj: Vedrana Čemerin Recezent: Tilen Pigac - EFZG

I'd like to begin with a thought experiment.

Htio bih započeti s misaonim eksperimentom.

Imagine that it's 4,000 years into the future.

Zamislite da smo otišli 4.000 godina u budućnost.

Civilization as we know it

Civilizacija kakvu poznajemo

has ceased to exist --

prestala je postojati --

no books,

nema knjiga,

no electronic devices,

nema elektroničkih uređaja,

no Facebook or Twitter.

nema ni Facebooka ni Twittera.

All knowledge of the English language and the English alphabet

Svo znanje engleskog jezika i engleske abecede

has been lost.

je izgubljeno.

Now imagine archeologists

Sad zamislite kako arheolozi

digging through the rubble of one of our cities.

prekapaju ruševine jednog od naših gradova.

What might they find?

Što bi mogli naći?

Well perhaps some rectangular pieces of plastic

Možda nekoliko pravokutnih komada plastike

with strange symbols on them.

na kojima se nalaze neobični znakovi.

Perhaps some circular pieces of metal.

Možda nekoliko kružnih komada metala.

Maybe some cylindrical containers

Možda nekoliko cilindričnih spremnika

with some symbols on them.

na kojima se nalaze neki znakovi.

And perhaps one archeologist becomes an instant celebrity

I možda jedan arheolog postane instant zvijezda

when she discovers --

nakon što otkrije --

buried in the hills somewhere in North America --

zakopane negdje u sjevernoameričkim brdima --

massive versions of these same symbols.

ogromne verzije istih znakova.

Now let's ask ourselves,

Zapitajmo se sada

what could such artifacts say about us

što bi takvi artefakti mogli reći o nama

to people 4,000 years into the future?

ljudima koji će živjeti 4.000 godina poslije nas?

This is no hypothetical question.

To nije hipotetsko pitanje.

In fact, this is exactly the kind of question we're faced with

Zapravo, to je točno ono pitanje s kojim se suočavamo

when we try to understand the Indus Valley civilization,

kad pokušavamo razumjeti civilizaciju doline Inda

which existed 4,000 years ago.

koja je postojala prije 4.000 godina.

The Indus civilization was roughly contemporaneous

Civilizacija doline Inda postojala je otprilike istovremeno

with the much better known Egyptian and the Mesopotamian civilizations,

s mnogo poznatijim civilizacijama Egipta i Mezopotamije

but it was actually much larger than either of these two civilizations.

no bila je zapravo mnogo veća nego ijedna od njih.

It occupied the area

Zauzimala je područje

of approximately one million square kilometers,

od otprilike milijun kvadratnih kilometara,

covering what is now Pakistan,

obuhvaćajući današnji Pakistan,

Northwestern India

sjeveroistočnu Indiju

and parts of Afghanistan and Iran.

i dijelove Afganistana i Irana.

Given that it was such a vast civilization,

S obzirom na to da se radilo o tako velikoj civilizaciji

you might expect to find really powerful rulers, kings,

mogli biste očekivati da ćete naići na doista moćne vladare, kraljeve

and huge monuments glorifying these powerful kings.

i ogromne spomenike koji veličaju njihovu moć.

In fact,

Zapravo,

what archeologists have found is none of that.

arheolozi nisu pronašli ništa slično.

They've found small objects such as these.

Pronašli su malene predmete poput ovih.

Here's an example of one of these objects.

Ovo je primjer jednog od tih predmeta.

Well obviously this is a replica.

Očigledno se radi o replici.

But who is this person?

No tko je ovo?

A king? A god?

Kralj? Bog?

A priest?

Svećenik?

Or perhaps an ordinary person

Ili možda običan čovjek

like you or me?

poput mene ili vas?

We don't know.

Ne znamo.

But the Indus people also left behind artifacts with writing on them.

No ljudi Inda za sobom su ostavili i artefakte na kojima se nalaze zapisi.

Well no, not pieces of plastic,

Pa, ne, nisu ostavili komade plastike

but stone seals, copper tablets,

nego kamene pečate, bakrene pločice,

pottery and, surprisingly,

lončariju i iznenađujuće

one large sign board,

jednu veliku znakovnu ploču,

which was found buried near the gate of a city.

koja je pronađena zakopana blizu vrata jednog grada.

Now we don't know if it says Hollywood,

Ne znamo kazuje li Hollywood

or even Bollywood for that matter.

ili Bollywood, što se toga tiče.

In fact, we don't even know

Zapravo, ne znamo čak

what any of these objects say,

ni što kazuje ijedan od ovih predmeta.

and that's because the Indus script is undeciphered.

To je zato što pismo doline Inda nije dešifrirano.

We don't know what any of these symbols mean.

Ne znamo što znači ijedan od ovih znakova.

The symbols are most commonly found on seals.

Znakovi se najčešće nalaze na pečatima.

So you see up there one such object.

Ondje gore vidite jedan takav predmet.

It's the square object with the unicorn-like animal on it.

To je četvrtasti predmet koji krasi životinja poput jednoroga.

Now that's a magnificent piece of art.

To je doista veličanstveno umjetničko djelo.

So how big do you think that is?

Što mislite, koliko je velik?

Perhaps that big?

Ovoliko?

Or maybe that big?

Ili možda ovoliko?

Well let me show you.

Dopustite da vam pokažem.

Here's a replica of one such seal.

Ovo je replika jednog takvog pečata.

It's only about one inch by one inch in size --

Velika je otprilike 2,5 x 2,5 cm --

pretty tiny.

vrlo je malena.

So what were these used for?

Za što su se takvi predmeti upotrebljavali?

We know that these were used for stamping clay tags

Znamo da se ovo upotrebljavalo za utiskivanje oznaka u glinene pločice

that were attached to bundles of goods that were sent from one place to the other.

koje su vješali na svežnjeve robe koju se slalo s jednog mjesta na drugo.

So you know those packing slips you get on your FedEx boxes?

Dakle, znate li kako izgledaju tovarni listovi koje dobijete na FedExovim kutijama?

These were used to make those kinds of packing slips.

Ovo se upotrebljavalo za izradu takvih tovarnih listova.

You might wonder what these objects contain

Mogi biste se zapitati što ovi predmeti sadrže

in terms of their text.

u tekstualnom smislu.

Perhaps they're the name of the sender

Možda se radi o imenu pošiljatelja

or some information about the goods

ili informacijama o robi

that are being sent from one place to the other -- we don't know.

koju se šalje s jednog mjesta na drugo. Ne znamo.

We need to decipher the script to answer that question.

Kako bismo mogli dati odgovor na to pitanje, moramo dešifrirati pismo.

Deciphering the script

Dešifriranje tog pisma

is not just an intellectual puzzle;

nije samo intelektualna zagonetka

it's actually become a question

to je zapravo postalo pitanje

that's become deeply intertwined

duboko isprepleteno

with the politics and the cultural history of South Asia.

s politikom i kulturnom poviješću južne Azije.

In fact, the script has become a battleground of sorts

Zapravo, pismo je postalo svojevrsno bojište

between three different groups of people.

između triju različitih grupa ljudi.

First, there's a group of people

Kao prvo, postoji grupa ljudi

who are very passionate in their belief

koja strastveno vjeruje

that the Indus script

kako indsko pismo

does not represent a language at all.

uopće ne predstavlja jezik.

These people believe that the symbols

Ti ljudi vjeruju kako su znakovi

are very similar to the kind of symbols you find on traffic signs

vrlo slični onoj vrsti znakova koju nalazimo na prometnim znakovima

or the emblems you find on shields.

ili amblemima koje nalazimo na štitovima.

There's a second group of people

Druga grupa ljudi

who believe that the Indus script represents an Indo-European language.

vjeruje kako indsko pismo predstavlja indoeuropski jezik.

If you look at a map of India today,

Ako danas pogledate kartu Indije,

you'll see that most of the languages spoken in North India

vidjet ćete kako većina jezika koji se govore u sjevernoj Indiji

belong to the Indo-European language family.

pripada indoeuropskoj jezičnoj porodici.

So some people believe that the Indus script

Stoga neki ljudi vjeruju kako indsko pismo

represents an ancient Indo-European language such as Sanskrit.

predstavlja drevni indoeuropski jezik poput Sanskrta.

There's a last group of people

Posljednja grupa ljudi

who believe that the Indus people

vjeruje kako su ljudi Inda

were the ancestors of people living in South India today.

bili preci ljudi koji danas žive u južnoj Indiji.

These people believe that the Indus script

Ti ljudi vjeruju kako indsko pismo

represents an ancient form

predstavlja drevni oblik

of the Dravidian language family,

dravidske jezične porodice,

which is the language family spoken in much of South India today.

što je jezična porodica kojom govori veliki dio današnje južne Indije.

And the proponents of this theory

Predstavnici ove teorije

point to that small pocket of Dravidian-speaking people in the North,

ukazuju na džepić ljudi na sjeveru koji govore dravidskim jezicima

actually near Afghanistan,

zapravo blizu Afganistana,

and they say that perhaps, sometime in the past,

i tvrde kako su se možda, jednom u prošlosti,

Dravidian languages were spoken all over India

dravidski jezici govorili u cijeloj Indiji

and that this suggests

što upućuje na to

that the Indus civilization is perhaps also Dravidian.

da je indska civilizacija možda također dravidska.

Which of these hypotheses can be true?

Koja bi od ovih hipoteza mogla biti točna?

We don't know, but perhaps if you deciphered the script,

Ne znamo, no možda ako dešifriramo pismo

you would be able to answer this question.

budemo u mogućnosti dati odgovor na to pitanje.

But deciphering the script is a very challenging task.

No dešifriranje pisma je vrlo zahtjevan zadatak.

First, there's no Rosetta Stone.

Kao prvo, ne postoji nešto poput Kamena iz Rosette.

I don't mean the software;

Pritom ne mislim na program,

I mean an ancient artifact

nego na antički artefakt

that contains in the same text

koji sadrži u istom zapisu

both a known text and an unknown text.

i poznati i nepoznati tekst.

We don't have such an artifact for the Indus script.

Nemamo takav artefakt za indsko pismo.

And furthermore, we don't even know what language they spoke.

Štoviše, ne znamo ni kojim su jezikom govorili.

And to make matters even worse,

Što je još gore,

most of the text that we have are extremely short.

većina tekstova koje imamo su jako kratki.

So as I showed you, they're usually found on these seals

Kao što sam vam pokazao, većinom ih nalazimo na ovim pečatima

that are very, very tiny.

koji su vrlo, vrlo mali.

And so given these formidable obstacles,

Uzevši u obzir ove znatne prepreke,

one might wonder and worry

mogli bismo se zapitati i zabrinuti

whether one will ever be able to decipher the Indus script.

hoćemo li ikad moći dešifrirati indsko pismo.

In the rest of my talk,

U ostatku svog predavanja

I'd like to tell you about how I learned to stop worrying

ispričat ću vam kako sam naučio prestati se brinuti

and love the challenge posed by the Indus script.

i zavolio izazov koji indsko pismo predstavlja.

I've always been fascinated by the Indus script

Indsko pismo me oduvijek fasciniralo

ever since I read about it in a middle school textbook.

još otkako sam o njemu čitao u srednjoškolskom udžbeniku.

And why was I fascinated?

Zašto me fasciniralo?

Well it's the last major undeciphered script in the ancient world.

To je posljednje veliko nedešifrirano pismo antičkog svijeta.

My career path led me to become a computational neuroscientist,

Moj me karijerni pravac odveo u smjeru računalne neuroznanosti,

so in my day job,

tako da na svom svakodnevnom poslu

I create computer models of the brain

stvaram računalne modele mozga

to try to understand how the brain makes predictions,

kako bih pokušao razumjeti kako mozak vrši predviđanja,

how the brain makes decisions,

kako donosi odluke,

how the brain learns and so on.

kako uči i tako dalje.

But in 2007, my path crossed again with the Indus script.

No 2007. godine ponovno mi se put ukrstio s indskim pismom.

That's when I was in India,

Bilo je to kad sam bio u Indiji,

and I had the wonderful opportunity

i imao čudesnu mogućnost

to meet with some Indian scientists

upoznati neke indijske znanstvenike

who were using computer models to try to analyze the script.

koji su pokušavali analizirati pismo koristeći računalne modele.

And so it was then that I realized

Tako sam shvatio

there was an opportunity for me to collaborate with these scientists,

da postoji mogućnost da surađujem s tim znanstvenicima,

and so I jumped at that opportunity.

pa sam zgrabio tu mogućnost.

And I'd like to describe some of the results that we have found.

Htio bih opisati neke rezultate do kojih smo došli.

Or better yet, let's all collectively decipher.

Ili još bolje, hajdemo svi zajedno dešifrirati.

Are you ready?

Jeste li spremni?

The first thing that you need to do when you have an undeciphered script

Prva stvar koju morate napraviti kad imate nedešifrirano pismo

is try to figure out the direction of writing.

jest pokušati shvatiti smjer pisanja.

Here are two texts that contain some symbols on them.

Ovdje imam dva teksta koji sadrže neke znakove.

Can you tell me

Možete li mi reći

if the direction of writing is right to left or left to right?

je li smjer pisanja s desna na lijevo ili s lijeva na desno?

I'll give you a couple of seconds.

Dat ću vam par sekundi.

Okay. Right to left, how many? Okay.

Dobro. Koliko vas misli s desna na lijevo? Dobro.

Okay. Left to right?

Dobro. S lijeva na desno?

Oh, it's almost 50/50. Okay.

Omjer je skoro 50/50, dobro.

The answer is:

Odgovor je:

if you look at the left-hand side of the two texts,

ako pogledate na lijevu stranu dvaju tekstova,

you'll notice that there's a cramping of signs,

primijetit ćete zgušnjavanje znakova,

and it seems like 4,000 years ago,

i čini se da je prije 4.000 godina

when the scribe was writing from right to left,

kada je pisar pisao s lijeva na desno

they ran out of space.

ostao bez prostora.

And so they had to cram the sign.

Pa su morali zgusnuti znak.

One of the signs is also below the text on the top.

Jedan od znakova je također ispod teksta na vrhu.

This suggests the direction of writing

To upućuje na to da je smjer pisanja

was probably from right to left,

vjerojatno bio s desna na lijevo.

and so that's one of the first things we know,

Dakle, jedna od prvih stvari koje smo saznali

that directionality is a very key aspect of linguistic scripts.

jest to kako je direkcionalnost ključni aspekt jezičnih pisama.

And the Indus script now has

Indsko pismo sada

this particular property.

ima tu određenu karakteristiku.

What other properties of language does the script show?

Koje druge karakteristike pokazuje to pismo?

Languages contain patterns.

Jezici sadrže uzorke.

If I give you the letter Q

Ako vam dam slovo Q

and ask you to predict the next letter, what do you think that would be?

i zatražim da predvidite sljedeće slovo, što mislite koje bi to bilo?

Most of you said U, which is right.

Većina vas je rekla U, što je točno.

Now if I asked you to predict one more letter,

Ako sada zatražim da pogodite još jedno slovo,

what do you think that would be?

što mislite koje će to biti?

Now there's several thoughts. There's E. It could be I. It could be A,

Sada imamo nekoliko ideja. Moglo bi biti E. Ili I. Ili A,

but certainly not B, C or D, right?

ali sigurno ne B,C ili D, zar ne?

The Indus script also exhibits similar kinds of patterns.

Indsko pismo također iskazuje sličnu vrstu uzoraka.

There's a lot of text that start with this diamond-shaped symbol.

Mnogo tekstova započinje s ovim znakom u obliku dijamanta.

And this in turn tends to be followed

Koji potom često slijedi

by this quotation marks-like symbol.

ovaj znak koji nalikuje navodnicima.

And this is very similar to a Q and U example.

To je vrlo slično primjeru sa Q i U.

This symbol can in turn be followed

Ovaj znak zatim mogu slijediti

by these fish-like symbols and some other signs,

ovi znaci nalik ribama i neki drugi znaci,

but never by these other signs at the bottom.

no nikad ovi drugi znakovi na dnu.

And furthermore, there's some signs

Štoviše, postoje neki znakovi

that really prefer the end of texts,

koje uglavnom nalazimo na kraju tekstova,

such as this jar-shaped sign,

poput ovog znaka nalik ćupu.

and this sign, in fact, happens to be

Ovaj se znak, zapravo,

the most frequently occurring sign in the script.

najčešće pojavljuje u pismu.

Given such patterns, here was our idea.

Uzevši u obzir takve uzorke, naša je ideja bila ovakva.

The idea was to use a computer

Ideja je bila koristiti računalo

to learn these patterns,

kako bismo ga naučili ove uzorke

and so we gave the computer the existing texts.

pa smo unijeli u računalo postojeće tekstove.

And the computer learned a statistical model

Računalo je naučilo statistički model

of which symbols tend to occur together

koji se znakovi imaju tendenciju pojavljivati zajedno

and which symbols tend to follow each other.

i koji znakovi obično slijede jedni druge.

Given the computer model,

Uzevši računalni model

we can test the model by essentially quizzing it.

možemo ispitati model u osnovi mu postavljajući kviz pitanja.

So we could deliberately erase some symbols,

Mogli bismo namjerno izbrisati pojedine znakove,

and we can ask it to predict the missing symbols.

i upitati ga da pogodi nedostajuće znakove.

Here are some examples.

Evo nekih primjera.

You may regard this

Možete ovo smatrati

as perhaps the most ancient game

možda najstarijom igrom

of Wheel of Fortune.

Kola sreće.

What we found

Što smo otkrili

was that the computer was successful in 75 percent of the cases

jest to da je računalo bilo uspješno u 75% slučajeva

in predicting the correct symbol.

predviđanja točnog znaka.

In the rest of the cases,

U ostalim slučajevima,

typically the second best guess or third best guess was the right answer.

najčešće je drugi ili treći odgovor bio točan.

There's also practical use

Postoji i praktična primjena

for this particular procedure.

ovog postupka.

There's a lot of these texts that are damaged.

Mnogo je tekstova oštećeno.

Here's an example of one such text.

Ovo je primjer jednog takvog teksta.

And we can use the computer model now to try to complete this text

I sada možemo upotrijebiti računalni model kako bismo pokušali upotpuniti ovaj tekst

and make a best guess prediction.

i predvidjeti najbolji pogodak.

Here's an example of a symbol that was predicted.

Ovdje je primjer znaka koji je bio predviđen.

And this could be really useful as we try to decipher the script

I to bi moglo biti uistinu korisno pri pokušaju dešifriranja pisma

by generating more data that we can analyze.

stvaranjem više podataka koje možemo analizirati.

Now here's one other thing you can do with the computer model.

Evo još jedne stvari koju možete napraviti s računalnim modelom.

So imagine a monkey

Zamislite majmuna

sitting at a keyboard.

kako sjedi za tipkovnicom.

I think you might get a random jumble of letters that looks like this.

Mislim da biste mogli dobiti slučajnu mješavinu slova koja izgleda ovako.

Such a random jumble of letters

Takve slučajne mješavine slova

is said to have a very high entropy.

navodno imaju vrlo visoku entropiju.

This is a physics and information theory term.

To je pojam iz fizike i informacijske teorije.

But just imagine it's a really random jumble of letters.

No samo zamislite kako je to doista slučajna mješavina slova.

How many of you have ever spilled coffee on a keyboard?

Koliko vas je ikad prolilo kavu po tipkovnici?

You might have encountered the stuck-key problem --

Možda ste se susreli s problemom smrznute tipkovnice --

so basically the same symbol being repeated over and over again.

u principu znak koji se uvijek iznova ponavlja.

This kind of a sequence is said to have a very low entropy

Za takav slijed kažu kako ima vrlo nisku entropiju

because there's no variation at all.

zato što uopće nema varijacije.

Language, on the other hand, has an intermediate level of entropy;

Jezik, s druge strane, ima srednju razinu entropije,

it's neither too rigid,

nije ni previše striktna

nor is it too random.

ni previše slučajna.

What about the Indus script?

Što je s indskim pismom?

Here's a graph that plots the entropies of a whole bunch of sequences.

Ovo je grafikon koji prikazuje entropije cijelog niza slijedova.

At the very top you find the uniformly random sequence,

Na samom vrhu nalazimo ravnomjerno slučajan slijed,

which is a random jumble of letters --

koji je slučajna mješavina slova --

and interestingly, we also find

i, zanimljivo, također nalazimo

the DNA sequence from the human genome and instrumental music.

slijed DNK iz ljudskog genoma i instrumentalnu glazbu.

And both of these are very, very flexible,

Oba ova slijeda su jako fleksibilna,

which is why you find them in the very high range.

zato ih nalazimo u vrlo visokom rasponu.

At the lower end of the scale,

Na donjem kraju ljestvice

you find a rigid sequence, a sequence of all A's,

nalazimo striktni slijed, slijed koji čini niz slova A

and you also find a computer program,

te također nalazimo računalni program,

in this case in the language Fortran,

u ovom slučaju jezika Fortran,

which obeys really strict rules.

koji poštuje vrlo stroga pravila.

Linguistic scripts

Jezična pisma

occupy the middle range.

zauzimaju položaj na sredini.

Now what about the Indus script?

Što je s indskim pismom?

We found that the Indus script

Otkrili smo kako indsko pismo

actually falls within the range of the linguistic scripts.

zapravo potpada unutar raspona jezičnih pisama.

When this result was first published,

Kada je to otkriće prvi put objavljeno

it was highly controversial.

bilo je vrlo kontroverzno.

There were people who raised a hue and cry,

Bilo je ljudi koji su podigli hajku

and these people were the ones who believed

i to su bili ljudi koji su vjerovali

that the Indus script does not represent language.

kako indsko pismo ne predstavlja jezik.

I even started to get some hate mail.

Čak sam počeo dobivati i prijetnje u pošti.

My students said

Moji studenti su rekli

that I should really seriously consider getting some protection.

kako bih trebao ozbiljno razmisliti o traženju zaštite.

Who'd have thought

Tko bi pomislio

that deciphering could be a dangerous profession?

da dešifriranje može biti opasno zanimanje?

What does this result really show?

Što ovi rezultati doista pokazuju?

It shows that the Indus script

Oni pokazuju kako indsko pismo

shares an important property of language.

dijeli važnu karakteristiku jezika.

So, as the old saying goes,

Tako da, kao što kaže stara izreka,

if it looks like a linguistic script

ako izgleda kao jezično pismo

and it acts like a linguistic script,

i ponaša se kao jezično pismo,

then perhaps we may have a linguistic script on our hands.

možda u rukama držimo jezično pismo.

What other evidence is there

Koji drugi dokaz imamo

that the script could actually encode language?

da bi pismo zapravo moglo sadržavati jezik?

Well linguistic scripts can actually encode multiple languages.

Pa, jezična pisma zapravo mogu sadržavati više jezika.

So for example, here's the same sentence written in English

Na primjer, evo iste rečenice napisane engleskim

and the same sentence written in Dutch

i nizozemskim jezikom

using the same letters of the alphabet.

koristeći ista slova abecede.

If you don't know Dutch and you only know English

Ako ne znate nizozemski i zante samo engleski

and I give you some words in Dutch,

a ja vam dam neke nizozemske riječi,

you'll tell me that these words contain

reći ćete mi kako te riječi sadrže

some very unusual patterns.

neke vrlo neobične uzorke.

Some things are not right,

Neke stvari nisu u redu,

and you'll say these words are probably not English words.

i reći ćete kako ove riječi vjerojatno nisu engleske riječi.

The same thing happens in the case of the Indus script.

Isto se događa u slučaju indskog pisma.

The computer found several texts --

Računalo je pronašlo nekoliko tekstova --

two of them are shown here --

dva su prikazana ovdje --

that have very unusual patterns.

koji imaju vrlo neobične uzorke.

So for example the first text:

Na primjer, prvi tekst:

there's a doubling of this jar-shaped sign.

ovaj znak u obliku ćupa je udvostručen.

This sign is the most frequently-occurring sign

Ovaj znak je znak koji se najčešće pojavljuje

in the Indus script,

u indskom pismu,

and it's only in this text

i samo se u ovom tekstu

that it occurs as a doubling pair.

pojavljuje u udvostručenom paru.

Why is that the case?

Zašto je to tako?

We went back and looked at where these particular texts were found,

Otišli smo natrag i potražili mjesto gdje su ovi određeni tekstovi nađeni,

and it turns out that they were found

i ispostavilo se da su nađeni

very, very far away from the Indus Valley.

vrlo daleko od doline Inda.

They were found in present day Iraq and Iran.

Nađeni su u današnjem Iraku i Iranu.

And why were they found there?

Zašto su nađeni ondje?

What I haven't told you is that

Ono što vam nisam rekao

the Indus people were very, very enterprising.

jest to da su ljudi Inda bili vrlo, vrlo poduzetni.

They used to trade with people pretty far away from where they lived,

Trgovali su s ljudima vrlo daleko od područja gdje su živjeli.

and so in this case, they were traveling by sea

U ovom slučaju, putovali su morem

all the way to Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq.

cijelim putem do Mezopotamije, do današnjeg Iraka.

And what seems to have happened here

I čini se da se ondje dogodilo to

is that the Indus traders, the merchants,

da su indski trgovci

were using this script to write a foreign language.

koristili ovo pismo za pisanje na stranom jeziku.

It's just like our English and Dutch example.

To je poput našeg primjera s engleskim i nizozemskim.

And that would explain why we have these strange patterns

I to bi objasnilo zašto imamo ove neobične uzorke

that are very different from the kinds of patterns you see in the text

koji se jako razlikuju od vrsta uzoraka koje vidimo u tekstovima

that are found within the Indus Valley.

pronađenim u dolini Inda.

This suggests that the same script, the Indus script,

To upućuje na to da je isto pismo, indsko pismo,

could be used to write different languages.

moglo biti korišteno za zapisivanje različitih jezika.

The results we have so far seem to point to the conclusion

Čini se da rezultati koje do sad imamo ukazuju na zaključak

that the Indus script probably does represent language.

kako indsko pismo vjerojatno doista predstavlja jezik.

If it does represent language,

Ako predstavlja jezik,

then how do we read the symbols?

kako da onda čitamo znakove?

That's our next big challenge.

To je naš sljedeći veliki izazov.

So you'll notice that many of the symbols

Primijetit ćete da mnogi znakovi

look like pictures of humans, of insects,

izgledaju poput slika ljudi, kukaca,

of fishes, of birds.

riba ili ptica.

Most ancient scripts

Većina antičkih pisama

use the rebus principle,

koristi princip rebusa

which is, using pictures to represent words.

što znači, koriste slike koje predstavljaju riječi.

So as an example, here's a word.

Na primjer, evo jedne riječi.

Can you write it using pictures?

Možete li je napisati koristeći slike?

I'll give you a couple seconds.

Dat ću vam nekoliko sekundi.

Got it?

Jeste li?

Okay. Great.

Dobro. Super.

Here's my solution.

Ovo je moje rješenje.

You could use the picture of a bee followed by a picture of a leaf --

Možete upotrijebiti sliku pčele koju slijedi slika lista --

and that's "belief," right.

i to je uvjerenje (belief), da.

There could be other solutions.

Mogu postojati i druga rješenja.

In the case of the Indus script,

U slučaju indskog pisma,

the problem is the reverse.

problem je obrnut.

You have to figure out the sounds of each of these pictures

Morate pronaći zvukove svake od ovih slika

such that the entire sequence makes sense.

kako bi cijeli slijed imao smisla.

So this is just like a crossword puzzle,

To je poput križaljke,

except that this is the mother of all crossword puzzles

samo što je ovo majka svih križaljki,

because the stakes are so high if you solve it.

zato što su ulozi tako visoki ako je riješite.

My colleagues, Iravatham Mahadevan and Asko Parpola,

Moji kolege, Iravatham Mahadevan i Asko Parpola

have been making some headway on this particular problem.

ponešto su napredovali po pitanju ovog određenog problema.

And I'd like to give you a quick example of Parpola's work.

Htio bih vam pokazati brzi primjer Parpolina rada.

Here's a really short text.

Evo jednog vrlo kratkog teksta.

It contains seven vertical strokes followed by this fish-like sign.

On sadrži sedam vertikalnih poteza koje slijedi ovaj znak nalik ribi.

And I want to mention that these seals were used

Želim napomenuti kako su ovi pečati korišteni

for stamping clay tags

za utiskivanje u glinene pločice

that were attached to bundles of goods,

koje su bile zakvačene na svežnjeve robe,

so it's quite likely that these tags, at least some of them,

tako da je vrlo vjerojatno da barem neke od njih

contain names of merchants.

sadrže imena trgovaca.

And it turns out that in India

Ispada kako u Indiji

there's a long tradition

postoji duga tradicija

of names being based on horoscopes

imena baziranih na horoskopu

and star constellations present at the time of birth.

i zvjezdanim konstelacijama prisutnim u trenutku rođenja.

In Dravidian languages,

U dravidskim jezicima

the word for fish is "meen"

riječ za ribu je "meen"

which happens to sound just like the word for star.

što slučajno zvuči točno kao riječ za zvijezdu.

And so seven stars

Tako bi sedam zvijezda

would stand for "elu meen,"

značilo "elu meen"

which is the Dravidian word

što je dravidski naziv

for the Big Dipper star constellation.

za zviježđe Velikog medvjeda.

Similarly, there's another sequence of six stars,

Slično tome, postoji još jedan slijed od šest zvijezda,

and that translates to "aru meen,"

koji prevodimo kao "aru meen"

which is the old Dravidian name

što je staro dravidsko ime

for the star constellation Pleiades.

za zviježđe Plejada.

And finally, there's other combinations,

Na kraju, postoje druge kombinacije

such as this fish sign with something that looks like a roof on top of it.

poput ovog ribljeg znaka s nečim što nalikuje krovu povrh njega.

And that could be translated into "mey meen,"

To možemo prevesti kao "mey meen"

which is the old Dravidian name for the planet Saturn.

što je stari dravidski naziv za planet Saturn.

So that was pretty exciting.

Ovo je bilo vrlo uzbudljivo.

It looks like we're getting somewhere.

Čini se da nešto postižemo.

But does this prove

No dokazuje li ovo

that these seals contain Dravidian names

da ovi pečati sadrže dravidska imena

based on planets and star constellations?

bazirana na planetima i zviježđima?

Well not yet.

Pa, ne još.

So we have no way of validating

Tako da nemamo način na koji bismo potvrdili

these particular readings,

ova pojedinačna čitanja,

but if more and more of these readings start making sense,

no ako sve više takvih čitanja bude imalo smisla

and if longer and longer sequences

i sve duži slijedovi

appear to be correct,

se budu činili točnima

then we know that we are on the right track.

znat ćemo da smo na pravom putu.

Today,

Danas

we can write a word such as TED

možemo napisati riječ poput TED

in Egyptian hieroglyphics and in cuneiform script,

koristeći egipatske hijeroglife i klinasto pismo

because both of these were deciphered

zato što su oba dešifrirana

in the 19th century.

u 19. stoljeću.

The decipherment of these two scripts

Dešifriranje ovih dvaju pisama

enabled these civilizations to speak to us again directly.

omogućilo je tim civilizacijama da nam se ponovno izravno obrate.

The Mayans

Maje

started speaking to us in the 20th century,

su nam se počele obraćati u 20. stoljeću

but the Indus civilization remains silent.

no civilizacija doline Inda ostaje nijema.

Why should we care?

Zašto bi nas bilo briga?

The Indus civilization does not belong

Indska civilizacija ne pripada

to just the South Indians or the North Indians

samo južnim ili sjevernim Indijcima

or the Pakistanis;

ili Pakistancima,

it belongs to all of us.

ona pripada svima nama.

These are our ancestors --

Oni su naši preci --

yours and mine.

vaši i moji.

They were silenced

Utihnuli su

by an unfortunate accident of history.

nesretnim povijesnim slučajem.

If we decipher the script,

Ako dešifriramo pismo

we would enable them to speak to us again.

omogućili bismo im da ponovno razgovaraju s nama.

What would they tell us?

Što bi nam rekli?

What would we find out about them? About us?

Što bismo saznali o njima? O sebi?

I can't wait to find out.

Jedva čekam da to saznam.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Pljesak)