For 150 years, people have tried to decipher mysterious symbols written by an advanced civilization believed to rival ancient Egypt. Can a $1 million prize help crack the puzzle?
I’ve read that Azeri carpet makers sometimes make their carpets with weird things kinda reminiscing letters, only those don’t mean anything for any script.
On Armenian carpets there are inscriptions with actual meanings woven in the same way. And, well, where Azeri carpet makers reside is usually in formerly Armenian-majority areas, and the other script there would be Arabic, which mostly came out of usage in Soviet times.
Similarly, everybody has probably seen Arab and Persian calligraphy and how it might sometimes be similar to a meaningless pattern. And westerners doing decoration might do a meaningless pattern imitating those.
What I’m coming at - what if this is a couple of centuries’ old similar joke, that never meant anything anyway?
I’ve read that Azeri carpet makers sometimes make their carpets with weird things kinda reminiscing letters, only those don’t mean anything for any script.
On Armenian carpets there are inscriptions with actual meanings woven in the same way. And, well, where Azeri carpet makers reside is usually in formerly Armenian-majority areas, and the other script there would be Arabic, which mostly came out of usage in Soviet times.
Similarly, everybody has probably seen Arab and Persian calligraphy and how it might sometimes be similar to a meaningless pattern. And westerners doing decoration might do a meaningless pattern imitating those.
What I’m coming at - what if this is a couple of centuries’ old similar joke, that never meant anything anyway?
EDIT: OK, sorry, opened the actual article.