Language and the Written Word

I don’t have much talent for languages, but I’ve always been fasinated by the deciphering of ancient texts, the evolution of languages and the relationships between them. At 3,500 words, How come we can’t decipher the Indus script? may be the longest Straight Dope column I’ve read, and I just read the whole thing. (I usually only skim through The Straight Dope columns.) It was a good read.