A Harappan signboard by analogy with the first successful reading of cuneiform by Grotefend

The so-called Dholavira signboard is the only example of Harappan writing in large characters and fixed to a monument. To read this signboard of 10 signs, we apply a method of decipherment that yielded the first reading for cuneiform when Grotefend followed repetition and patterns of repetition from the Persepolis inscriptions, based on a Sassanian analogue. The result shows, by analogy, that the semantic from an unknown script that writes an unknown language can be recovered, even if only partially, based purely on sign distribution, without the need for phonetic substitution. The result can be applied to the entire corpus of Indus seals and inscriptions of over 5,000 entries and a sign list of 400+. Here we start with the ‘disc’ sign, which has 199 records, and its repetitions within a line. We then cover all the signs on the signboard. As we read the signboard, we read other Harappan documents.