Famous Unsolved Codes and Ciphers

May 18, 2004 9:54 AM

Famous Unsolved Codes and Ciphers
posted by anastasiav (13 comments total)

This is as frusterating as watching "Unsolved Mysteries".
posted by geoff. at 10:07 AM on May 18, 2004

A few more from the ask dept.
posted by milovoo at 10:33 AM on May 18, 2004

You can get your closure from the "Famous Unsolved Codes That Have Since Been Solved" section.
posted by smackfu at 10:34 AM on May 18, 2004

Previous threads on the Voynich manuscript. (Note: this is not a callout, just an "if you liked this, you may also be interested in these" type comment. Good post, ana.)
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 10:38 AM on May 18, 2004

I'd like to offer my apologies to Jessamyn - I didn't know she'd posted this link in the aforementioned askMe thread, and the search didn't bring it up.

I'm not cribbing your work, honest!
posted by anastasiav at 10:43 AM on May 18, 2004

Famous Unsolved Codes and Ciphers and Scripts. They list Linear A and the Harappan clay chit pictographs, which I doubt were a form of crypto.

I coud lose an hour of productivity going through this site and its links.
posted by linux at 10:44 AM on May 18, 2004

Forgot to mention: the Harappa and Mohenjo-daro sites are interesting beyond the pictorgraphed clay chits, being a largely mysterious culture with no direct relationship to the beginning of Indian civilization as we know it... one of those little bits of information I keep in my head from my days as an archaeologist being that they appeared to use disposable clay drinking cups for the drinking wells.
posted by linux at 10:48 AM on May 18, 2004

I got 10/13, but I'm asleep and drunk and riding a ferris wheel, so I could probably do better on a normal day. (I would have gotten the Dorabella Cipher, too, but lack of a television in my home made its reference meaningless to me.)
posted by littlegreenlights at 11:37 AM on May 18, 2004

Another 250-year-old puzzle was in the news recently because some of the Bletchley Park people - yes, the folks who unravelled Enigma - are going to try to work it out.
posted by zadcat at 11:47 AM on May 18, 2004

Excellent!
posted by carter at 11:49 AM on May 18, 2004

Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 12:26 PM on May 18, 2004

Codes in fiction: Dancing Man
posted by clavdivs at 1:08 PM on May 18, 2004

Another 250-year-old puzzle was in the news recently because some of the Bletchley Park people...

Some tips for tackling the "Et in Arcadia ego" puzzle (which seems to consist in deciphering O.U.O.S.V.A.V.V.). Some recent thoughts, in response to the news story, have been posted to this email list for Classicists (thread entitled "Anyone want to take up this challenge?").
posted by Zurishaddai at 3:37 PM on May 18, 2004