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Decipherment in Progress: Ancient Scripts

Dans le cadre de ses cycles de conférences consacrées aux écritures et langues anciennes, l’ILARA a organisé en 2025, grâce au soutien de la Fondation Singer-Polignac et de la Fondation Jan Michalski, une série de neuf conférences portant sur les écritures anciennes dont les déchiffrements sont actuellement en cours. Pour plus d’informations, cliquez ici.

In 2025, with support from the Singer-Polignac Foundation and the Jan Michalski Foundation, ILARA is hosting a series of nine themed talks as part of our ongoing commitment to ancient scripts and languages. These talks will explore ancient scripts that are currently in the process of being deciphered. For more information, click here.

2025 programme

Find all the details about the speakers and the content of each lecture in the brochure below:

Camille Lecompte (CNRS, ArScAn), “The Challenges of Deciphering the Earliest Mesopotamian Writings and the ‘Proto-Cuneiform’ System”

Camille Lecompte is an Assyriologist, a research fellow at the CNRS, and an instructor of Sumerian at the Institut Catholique de Paris and at ELASU (Sorbonne University)

Romain Garnier (University of Limoges, EHIC), “Kalashma: A Newly Discovered Anatolian Language of the Second Millennium”

Romain Garnier is an associate professor at the University of Limoges, an instructor of Vedic at Sorbonne Nouvelle University and the editor of the journal wékʷos.

Jacob L. Dahl (University of Oxford, CDLI), “How to decipher the undecipherable? Past, current and future work on proto-Elamite, the earliest writing system from ancient Iran”

Jacob L. Dahl is a Professor of Assyriology at the University of Oxford and a co-director of the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI)

Claude Rilly (EPHE-PSL, CNRS), Deciphering the Meroitic Language: New Insights into the Royal Texts

Claude Rilly is a Director of Studies at EPHE-PSL and the director of the French archaeological mission at Sedeinga, in Sudanese Nubia.

The recording will be available at a later time

Jean Hadas-Lebel (Lumière Lyon 2 University, HiSoMA), “Hermeneutics for Etruscan: What Kind?

Jean Hadas-Lebel is an associate professor of Latin at Lyon 2 University and a lecturer at ELASU (Sorbonne University).

The recording will be available at a later time

Ester Salgarella (University of Aarhus), “The ‘Minoan’ Linear A Script of Bronze Age Crete: Is decipherment the only goal?

Ester Salgarella is an AIAS-AUFF Fellow at the Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies (University of Aarhus, Denmark).

The recording will be available at a later time

Emmanuel Dupraz (Université libre de Bruxelles, EPHE-PSL, AOrOc), Deciphering Gaulish: Work in Progress

Emmanuel Dupraz is a lecturer at the Free University of Brussels and a senior research fellow at EPHE-PSL.

The recording will be available at a later time

Miguel Valério (Autonomous University of Barcelona), “The Rongorongo Script of Rapa Nui (Easter Island)”

Miguel Valério is an archaeologist currently working with the ASOME research group (Social Mediterranean Archaeology) and an external member of the Institute of the Ancient Near East (IPOA) at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

The recording will be available at a later time

Dennys Frenez (Università di Bologna), “Materializing Meanings: Archaeological Perspectives on Writing in the Indus Civilization”

Dennys Frenez is an archaeologist, specialist of the Indus and Oman civilizations, and lecturer at the University of Padova.

The recording will be available at a later time

Guillaume Jacques (CNRS, EPHE-PSL, CRLAO) & Olivier Venture (EPHE-PSL, CRCAO), “The Bashu Signs: An Undeciphered Script from Ancient China?”

Guillaume Jacques is a Director of Research at CNRS and a Director of Studies at EPHE-PSL.

Olivier Venture is a Director of Studies at EPHE-PSL.

Le cycle de conférences « L’araméen dans tous ses états » est proposé par l’ILARA grâce au soutien de la Fondation Singer Polignac et de la Fondation Jan Michalski.