Symbol, Sound, and Memory: Rethinking the Indus Script through Compressed Communication

This paper proposes a fundamental reframing of the Indus script problem. Rather than attempting phonetic decipherment or dismissing the script as non-writing, we argue that the Indus script represents a hybrid symbolic-phonetic system optimized for compressed cultural communication. The system encodes conceptual packets—semiotic units designed for recognition within shared cultural frameworks rather than phonetic translation. This approach explains persistent features that have resisted conventional analysis: extreme brevity, absence of syntactic markers, integration of iconic and abstract elements, and cross-site standardization. We examine the zebu bull motif as symbolic infrastructure and analyze the script's dual structure of pictographic and abstract components. The framework challenges logocentric assumptions equating writing exclusively with phonetic language representation, proposing instead that the Indus script functioned as semiotic infrastructure for encoding ritual, economic, and symbolic knowledge through visual memory and cultural context.