‘A masterly book … Clearly written, dispassionate and entertaining, this archaeological and linguistic detective story will appeal to anyone interested in ancient civilizations and the intricacies of languages and scripts.’ – Brian Fagan

‘If you hate unsolved mysteries this parade of incomprehensible texts will drive you nuts with frustration. But if you’re a wannabe linguist, and perhaps the world’s next Michael Ventris, you’ll definitely want to read this book.’ – Focus

‘Robinson’s enthusiasm for the subject is so infectious that you might find yourself trying to crack Etruscan in your spare time.’– Archaeology

‘It is baffling and humbling to confront an incomprehensible form of writing, such as Chinese for most Westerners … People who try to decipher the scripts of lost languages face an even sterner challenge … The book’s many illustrations of the enigmatic scripts make vivid the difficulty of the decipherer’s task.’ – Scientific American

Undeciphered scripts have long tantalized us.

Beginning with the stories of three great decipherments – Egyptian hieroglyphs, Minoan Linear B and Mayan glyphs – Lost Languages moves on to dissect the most well-known and enigmatic undeciphered scripts from around the world. They include the Etruscan alphabet of Italy, the Indus Valley seal script, Rongorongo from remote Easter Island, the Zapotec script of Mexico (probably the first writing system in the Americas), and the unique Phaistos disc of Crete (apparently the world’s earliest ‘printed’ document, dating from c.1700 BC).

Lost Languages reports from the front lines of scholarship where obsession, genius, occasional delusion and sometimes bitter rivalry are de rigueur among those currently competing for the rare honour of cracking these ancient codes – and giving voice to forgotten worlds.

See the article 'Decoding Antiquity' by Andrew Robinson in New Scientist

Andrew Robinson is the author of more than fifteen books, including the bestselling The Story of Writing, which has been translated into nine languages, The Man Who Deciphered Linear B and The Story of Measurement. Formerly the literary editor of The Times Higher Education Supplement, he is now a visiting fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. 

Also of interest
The Story of Writing
The Story of Measurement
1000 Languages: The Worldwide History of Living and Lost Tongues
The Story of Decipherment
The Man Who Deciphered Linear B
Discovering Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Reading the Maya Glyphs