The Commodity-Accounting Paradigm of the Indus Valley Script: A Structural Analysis of Seals as Transactional Tools and the "Pri-Krasner" Indexing Method

Despite over a century of research, the Indus Valley script remains undeciphered. This paperpresents a functional, non-linguistic model interpreting Indus seals as administrative andaccounting tools for transactional control ("Bronze Age credit cards") rather thanrepresentations of spoken language. Formulated initially in early 2025, this paradigm isvalidated by recent computational entropy models. We introduce the "Pri-Krasner" IndexingSystem, which mathematically correlates the frequency and status of animal motifs on sealswith transaction limits represented by numerical strokes in the penultimate sign position.Furthermore, we examine the survival of this accounting architecture through morphologicallinks (up to 90% similarity) with Megalithic pottery graffiti from South Indian sites likeKeeladi, culminating in the bilingual Anaikoddai seal (3rd century BCE). This systemdemonstrates a highly organized, long-enduring transactional infrastructure.

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Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2026-08-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22100765
Primary Topic
Ancient Near East History
Type
article
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article

The Commodity-Accounting Paradigm of the Indus Valley Script: A Structural Analysis of Seals as Transactional Tools and the "Pri-Krasner" Indexing Method

Igor Krasner
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Ancient Near East History
article

The Commodity-Accounting Paradigm of the Indus Valley Script: A Structural Analysis of Seals as Transactional Tools and the "Pri-Krasner" Indexing Method

Igor Krasner
article en

Abstract

Despite over a century of research, the Indus Valley script remains undeciphered. This paperpresents a functional, non-linguistic model interpreting Indus seals as administrative andaccounting tools for transactional control ("Bronze Age credit cards") rather thanrepresentations of spoken language. Formulated initially in early 2025, this paradigm isvalidated by recent computational entropy models. We introduce the "Pri-Krasner" IndexingSystem, which mathematically correlates the frequency and status of animal motifs on sealswith transaction limits represented by numerical strokes in the penultimate sign position.Furthermore, we examine the survival of this accounting architecture through morphologicallinks (up to 90% similarity) with Megalithic pottery graffiti from South Indian sites likeKeeladi, culminating in the bilingual Anaikoddai seal (3rd century BCE). This systemdemonstrates a highly organized, long-enduring transactional infrastructure.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
Ancient Near East History
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The Commodity-Accounting Paradigm of the Indus Valley Script: A Structural Analysis of Seals as Transactional Tools and the "Pri-Krasner" Indexing Method — Igor Krasner · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS