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Topics: History, India, World News
Callum Jones
Authorities are offering out a whopping $1 million award to anyone who can decipher a 5,000-year-old script.
Usually you'd go to a linguist in this situation, but even they have been struggling to work this one out - hence the award.
The ancient script that is causing headaches amongst experts is known as the Harappan Script, though it has gave archaeologists some idea as to how these ancient people lived and went about their lives.
The script was invented by the Indus Valley Civilization, who came about around 5,300 years ago in a region that is now northern India and Pakistan.
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Those living in that period thrived for centuries before they vanished - but they did leave the Harappan Script, also known as Indus Valley Script (IVS), for future generations to see.
Many seals featuring this unique script have been found over the years, with the first found by Sir Alexander Cunningham way back in 1875.
As per IFL Science, the founder of the Archaeological Survey of India found six unreadable letters forming the script, and while he had no idea what they meant, Cunningham came to the conclusion it's 'certainly not Indian letters'.
Since that first example was found, more than 7,000 similar instances have been recovered - and they all have a striking resemblance.
Yep, all 7,000 of them feature a central animal and a short sequence of characters, which has puzzled experts for many years.
Typically, they would multilingual artefact to help crosscheck with other know languages, but the IVS does not have any of this.
Experts believe the scripts are activities that actually took place, rather than any spiritual concepts seen on other remarkable pieces of history.
But experts have spent so long trying to work out what the script is saying, that they are now offering a $1 million cash reward for anyone that can crack the code.
Chief minister of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin, said the mammoth reward will be offered 'to individuals or organisations that decipher the script to the satisfaction of archaeological experts'.
Since the challenge has been opened, many in India - ranging from engineers to IT workers and those retired - have claimed they've deciphered the script, BBC News reports.
Rajesh PN Rao, who is a Hwang Endowed Professor at the University of Washington and been working closely on the script, said: "They claim they've solved it and that the 'case is closed'."
No individual or company has been awarded the $1,000,000 prize as of yet.