Without Kings or Conquests: The Indus Script Deciphered and a Civilization Reconstructed

This preprint presents a reproducible framework for the decipherment of the Indus script, proposing that it functioned as a civic-ritual continuity system rather than phonetic writing or royal titulature. Using computational epigraphy (glyph normalization, co-occurrence clustering, positional syntax modeling) combined with contextual anchors (hydrology, residues, archaeoastronomy, and spatial placement), the study identifies a tripartite inscription grammar—prefix (identity/commodity/office), medial (action/transaction/domain), and suffix (cycle/jurisdiction/logistics)—that is stable across major Indus sites. Results suggest the script encoded ecological cycles, civic identity, and distributed governance, consistent with urban planning evidence showing complexity without kingship or conquest. Supplementary materials provide a translation atlas, methodological tools, and falsifiable predictions for field and laboratory validation. Together, the findings position the Indus script as a compressed civic code regulating flows of goods, water, ritual, and authority across one of the world’s earliest urban civilizations.