Estimated reading time: 10 minutes
The written word is so incredible don’t you think? It’s almost magic that we are able to solidify information into strokes and shapes. I find the strokes and shapes that I do not understand (from known non-English alphabets to the unknown) the most captivating, I call it the “Beauty in the Unreadable”. This type of curiousity led me to start learning abstract Calligraffiti (example below) and down this road into calligraphy. In this post, I would like to share with you some captivating mysteries of written language that still exist today, and the undeciphered scripts that hide them. From ancient alphabets of unknown origin, to unsolved ciphers. Let’s begin!
The Undeciphered Scripts
1. The Voynich Manuscript
Voynich Page 29
Our first undeciphered script is the Voynich Manuscript. Though we do not know much of the origins of the Voynich manuscript, we do know (thanks to carbon dating) that the ~240 pages of vellum it was written on, was dated to somewhere within the early 15th century. Based on the style of the drawings and scripts, historians have theorized that it was written in Italy during the Italian Renaissance. However, that is where the “knowns” end. The manuscript is written in an unknown script, in an unknown language with a bunch of strange botanical and astronomical illustrations. Hypotheses for the text’s origin vary widely, suggesting it could be a natural or constructed language (made up like Klingon/Dothraki), to an indecipherable code or cypher, a possible hoax, a reference work, meaningless speech, or a just a fun work of fiction. So basically no idea.
The Voynich Script
Due to the consistent thickness of the strokes of the text, it looks like it was written with a broad edge dip pen. The script consists of 25-30 unique roundish glyphs (aka characters) that have slight alterations per character. These alterations could just be variations in the writer’s handwriting or could actually have additional meaning (like accents/modifiers). Many strokes borrow from Latin characters/numbers, but seem to flow naturally. If I had to guess, the writer was a practiced scribe, due to the quite consistent letter and word spacing even without guidelines. From a calligraphy perspective, it is a fun script to write with those tall ascending loop characters, but does not always follow broad edge rules like constant pen angle.
If you want to look at the Voynich Manuscript for yourself, Yale University has it on their online library here.
Is the Voynich Manuscript a “Codex Seraphinianus” Style Document?
While no one knows the origins of the Voynich manuscript, I personally have one theory (*puts on tin-foil hat*). I think that it could be a much earlier type of document like the Codex Seraphinianus. The Codex Seraphinianus, created by Luigi Serafini in the 1970’s, is a beautifully illustrated (not always safe for work), encyclopedic book written in a purposely unreadable language (above) with strange botanical images. He designed it to give the viewer the feeling of a child looking at a book that they cannot read (aka Beauty of the Unreadable). Every page looks meaningful, yet remains beyond comprehension, a feeling I get when I look at things like calligraffiti. The two books share a lot of similarities and I think at the very least the Voynich manuscript inspired the Seraphinianus, but who knows? What do you think?
If you would like to see the Codex Seraphinianus, Check out the internet archive here (nsfw)
2. The Ronhonc Codex
The Ronhonc Codex is a 448 page document of a completely undeciphered script paired with stylized religious and wartime illustrations. Though still debated, it is believed to be written in the 16th century, and wasn’t discovered until the 19th century in the city of Ronhonc in Hungary. There is a lot of speculation of the purpose of the document, from hoax, to an alternative religious narrative.
The Ronhonc Script
The Ronhonc script has around 200 unique characters and ~800 variations that follow no known linguistic pattern. This leads some to believe that it is a constructed language or a hoax. Ronhonc script is written right to left
with symbols that are dense and compact which resembles a blend of runes and shorthand. The drawings, though primitive, are neatly framed, making the entire book look like a fusion of prayer book and cipher. Whether genuine or not, the Rohonc Codex demonstrates the expressive power of writing. Even if there is no meaning, it can project mystery, devotion, and artistry.
3. The Rongo Rongo Tablets
Rongorongo is a system of glyphs carved into wooden objects found on Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island), Polynesia. Though also debated, the different tablets and artifacts have been carbon dated to between 13th–19th century CE. No one alive today knows how to read it. When European explorers arrived, the local knowledge of the script had already vanished. Linguists can identify recurring signs and patterns, but no confirmed translation exists. Rongorongo could hold the only written record of precolonial Polynesian thought, mythology, and history.
The Rongo Rongo Script
Rongo Rongo is the only known script from Polynesia and is written in a unique reverse boustrophedon style (alternating lines flipped upside-down, like the turning of a plow). The glyphs are elegantly carved, curved and stylized, with many shapes from humans, animals, plants, and abstract symbols. It is closer to hieroglyphics than it is to letters but still have a very consistent style.
If you would like to see some 3D renderings of some of the Rongo Rongo tablets, check out their page here:
4. Linear A
Image Source: Wikipedia
Linear A is one of the earliest European scripts, used by the Minoans (a Bronze Age culture on the now Greek island of Crete) before the rise of Greek civilization (1800-1450 BCE). It’s the predecessor of Linear B, which was later used to write Mycenaean Greek. While Linear B was deciphered in the 1950s as Greek, Linear A remains unreadable. The glyphs that were found on various clay tablets, pottery and stone inscriptions don’t align with any known language family. Some scholars theorize that it encodes a lost Minoan tongue.
Linear A Script
Linear A’s characters are angular and geometric — clean, almost mechanical in shape, ideal for carving into clay. It’s an early example of stylized written form that foreshadows later alphabetic elegance.
5. Indus Valley Inscriptions
Image Source: Wikipedia
The Indus Script is one of the world’s oldest and most enigmatic writing systems. It was written by people of the Indus River Civilization (modern-day Pakistan & NW India) somewhere between 2600–1900 BCE. The script was found on thousands of small artifacts (stone seals, pottery, and copper tablets) in it uses short inscriptions (often only 3–5 signs) that might represent names, titles, or religious concepts. No bilingual texts or long inscriptions have ever been found, making decipherment basically impossible. Scholars debate whether it’s a full written language or a set of symbolic identifiers.
Indus Valley Script
The signs are small, neat, and pictorial; featuring animals, geometric shapes, and abstract symbols. The shapes feel very emblematic in nature, almost as if the writer (or carver) was leaving their personal logo or wordmark.
Unsolved Ciphers
What is a Cipher?
A cipher is a piece of understandable text that has been encoded or translated into a coded language or set of symbols. Ciphers are different than codes as ciphers are how each letter is changed, and codes are hidden meanings applied to words or phrases. To this day, there are still some undeciphered ciphers and codes out there.
The Dorabella Cipher
The Dorabella Cipher is a short, handwritten note sent by the English music composer Edward Elgar to a friend named Dora Penny. It contains 87 symbols made up of curves and loops resembling semicircles oriented in different directions. To this day no one has successfully deciphered it. Some believe it hides a musical message; others think it’s an inside joke, love note, or pure artistic play.
The Dorabella Script
Elgar was fascinated by cryptography, music, puzzles, yet he left no clue about how it was meant to be read. The script itself is soft, rhythmic, and circular, which feels like written music.
That’s all folks…
Thank you for reading and bearing my tin foil hat theories on these undeciphered scripts, and hopefully learning something along the way. With all the computing power and artificial intelligence we may yet figure some of these out.
That’s all for now. Let me know if I missed any mysterious scripts, ciphers or more and I’ll add it!
Thanks,
Richard
PS If you liked this post, here are a few in a similar category: