Certain forms of proto-writing remain undeciphered and, because of a lack of evidence and linguistic descendants, it is quite likely that they will never be deciphered.

Neolithic signs in ChinaEdit

• Jiahu symbols – Peiligang culture, from China, c. 6600 - 6200 BC.
• Damaidi symbols - Damaidi, from China, earliest estimated dates range from paleolthic to c. 3000 years ago
• Dadiwan symbols - Dadiwan, from China, c. 5800 - 5400 BC.
• Banpo symbols – Yangshao culture, from China, 5th millennium BC.
• Jiangzhai symbols - Yangshao culture, from China, 4th millenium BC.
• Dawenkou symbols - Dawenkou culture, c. 2800 - 2500 BC.
• Longshan symbols - Longshan culture, from China, c. 2500 - 1900 BC.

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  Jiahu symbols

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  Banpo symbols

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  Longshan symbols

Neolithic signs in EuropeEdit

• Dispilio Tablet – Neolithic Europe, from Greece, c. 5202 BC.
• Vinča symbols – Neolithic Europe, from Central Europe and Southeastern Europe, c. 4500 BC - 4000 BC.

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  Dispilio tablet

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  Vinca symbols

South AsiaEdit

• Indus script, c. 3500 BC to 1900 BC.
• Vikramkhol inscription, c. 1500 BC
• Megalithic graffiti symbols, c. 1000 BC - 300 AD, possible writing system and possible descendant of Indus script
• Kohi script – Gandhara, 3rd century BC to 8th century AD.
• Shankhalipi, c. 4th to 8th century

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  Indus script

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  Vikramkhol inscription

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  Kohi script

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  Shankhalipi

West AsiaEdit

• Proto Elamite, c. 3200 BC
• Linear Elamite, c. 2200 BC
• Wadi el-Ħôl script, c. 1800 BC, likely an abjad.
• Byblos syllabary – the city of Byblos, c. 1700 BC
• Cypro-Minoan syllabary, c. 1550 BC
• Para-Lydian script, known from a single inscription found in Sardis Synagogue, c. 400–350 BC.^[1]
• Sidetic script – Asia Minor, c. 5th to 3rd centuries BC.

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  Proto-Elamite script

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  Linear Elamite

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  Wadi el-Hol script

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  Byblos syllabry

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  Cypro-Minoan syllabry

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  Sidetic script

East AsiaEdit

• Ba–Shu scripts, 5th to 4th century BC.
• Khitan large script and Khitan small script – Khitan, 10th century, not fully deciphered.
• Tujia script

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  Ba script

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  Khitan large script

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  Khitan small script

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  Tujia script

Southeast AsiaEdit

• Singapore Stone, a fragment of a sandstone slab inscribed with an ancient Southeast Asian script, perhaps Old Javanese or Sanskrit. At least 13th century, and possibly as early as 10th to 11th century

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  Singapore Stone

Central AsiaEdit

• Issyk inscription, Kazakhstan, c. 4th century BC

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  Issyk inscription

• Cretan hieroglyphs, c. 2100 BC.
  • Linear A and Cretan hieroglyphs are both believed to be an example of the Minoan language.^{[citation needed]} Several words have been decoded from the scripts, but no definite conclusions on the meanings of the words have been made.
• Phaistos Disc, c. 2000 BC.
• Linear A, c. 1800 BC, a syllabary
• Grakliani Hill script - Grakliani Hill, c. 11th - 10th century BC
• Southwest Paleohispanic script, from c. 700 BC
• Sitovo inscription
• Alekanovo inscription, c. 10th - 11th century
• Rohonc Codex
• Folio 7r-v of British Library manuscript MS 73525, pre-1550, possibly liturgical.^[2]
• Voynich manuscript, carbon dated to the 15th century.^[3]
• The Newton Stone, which is alleged by some scholars to be modern forgery^[4]
• Some scholars consider the corpus of Pictish symbol stones to be an undeciphered writing system^[5]

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  Linear A

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  Cretan hieroglyphs

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  Phaistos disc

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  Southwest Paleohispanic Script

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  Sitovo inscription

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  Folio 7r of MS 73525

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  Folio 7v of MS 73525

Andean regionEdit

• Quipu – Inca Empire and predecessor states, c. 2600 BC - 17th century, with some variants still in use today; it could possibly be a writing system

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  Quipu

MesoamericaEdit

• Cascajal Block – Olmec civilization, c. 900 BC, possibly the oldest Mesoamerican script.
• Isthmian, c. 500 BC - 500 AD, apparently logosyllabic.
• Zapotec – Zapotec, c. 500 BC - 700 AD.
• Abaj Takalik and Kaminaljuyu script, has some similar glyphs to Maya glyphs, but still remains undeciphered.
• Mixtec – Mixtec, 14th century, perhaps pictographic. Many of the pictographic elements of the script are well-understood, but semantic and linguistic components are less well known.

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  Cascajal block

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  Isthmian script

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  Zapotec script

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  Mixtec script

OthersEdit

• So-called “Hamptonese”, a language used by outsider-artist James Hampton for his presumably religious text.^[6]

North AfricaEdit

• The Starving of Saqqara - possibly dating to pre-dynastic Egypt
• Ancient inscriptions in Somalia, According to the Ministry of Information and National Guidance of Somalia, inscriptions can be found on various old Taalo Tiiriyaad structures. These are enormous stone mounds found especially in northeastern Somalia. Among the main sites where these Taalo are located are Xabaalo Ambiyad in Alula District, Baar Madhere in Beledweyne District, and Harti Yimid in Las Anod District.^[7]
• Numidian language (although the script, Libyco-Berber, has been almost fully deciphered, the language has not)
• Meroitic script, c. 300 BC to 600 AD, though the script is largely deciphered, the language is not.

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  Libyco-Berber

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  Meroitic script

Sub-Saharan AfricaEdit

• Ikom monoliths – Cross River State, sometimes believed to be an ancient precursor to Nsibidi.
• Eghap script - Cameroon, c. 1900, partially deciphered

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  Ikom monoliths

• Rongorongo – Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island), before 1860.

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  Rongorongo

One very similar concept is that of false writing systems, which appear to be writing but are not. False writing cannot be deciphered because it has no semantic meaning. These particularly include asemic writing created for artistic purposes. One prominent example is the Codex Seraphinianus.

Another similar concept is that of undeciphered cryptograms, or cipher messages. These are not writing systems per se, but a disguised form of another text. Of course any cryptogram is intended to be undecipherable by anyone except the intended recipient so vast numbers of these exist, but a few examples have become famous and are listed in list of ciphertexts.

• Proto-Elamite (CDLI link)
• Vinča signs (The Old European Script: Further evidence - Shan M. M. Winn)