LONDON, Jan 25: You don’t need to buy a lottery ticket to win a million dollars, thanks to an offer from Tamil Nadu, a state in southern India. But there’s a catch: you’ll need to decipher a 5,300-year-old writing system. Keep reading to learn more about why this incredible prize is being offered for interpreting an ancient, mysterious script—and how you can contribute to U.S. history by volunteering to transcribe written documents!

The government of Tamil Nadu, led by Chief Minister MK Stalin, is offering a substantial reward: $1 million for anyone who can crack the code of an ancient script. This writing is linked to the Indus Valley civilization, which has puzzled experts for decades. “The Indus script is perhaps the most important system of writing that is still undeciphered,” said Asko Parpola, a leading Indologist, in an interview with BBC News.

Over the years, many individuals, particularly from India or of Indian descent, have claimed to have cracked the code of the Indus script. These self-proclaimed scholars often contact Rajesh PN Rao, who has written peer-reviewed studies on the subject, and boast that they have solved the puzzle. However, despite these efforts, the script remains a mystery. In response, the Chief Minister recently announced the $1 million prize to encourage others to take on the challenge. This decision followed the publication of a study that revealed similarities between the unknown Indus symbols and inscriptions found on local pottery.

The significant reward seems to be a reflection of the intrigue surrounding this ancient society. The Indus (or Harappan) civilization is regarded as one of the world’s earliest urban societies, dating back 5,300 years in what is now northwest India and Pakistan. It was home to farmers and traders for centuries, but the civilization eventually declined for reasons that historians still don’t fully understand.

A particularly enigmatic aspect of the Indus civilization is its language. The state’s minister recently pointed out that modern researchers speculate that a Dravidian language may have been spoken, but no one knows for certain. Part of the difficulty in deciphering the script is that most of the symbols are found on small objects like seals, pottery, and tablets. With over 4,000 symbols, these scripts are typically brief, containing no more than five signs. This makes it hard to gather enough context to decode the meaning. Researchers have yet to determine whether the symbols represent full words, parts of words, or even phrases within sentences.

The hope is that someone, either an individual or an organization, will finally crack this linguistic code in a way that’s accepted by archaeologists.

While deciphering this ancient language and claiming the $1 million might not be within your reach, there is another volunteer opportunity closer to home that may be perfect for you! The Citizen Archivist program is seeking help transcribing handwritten records in the National Archives. The catch? These historical documents are written in cursive.

Every year, the National Archives digitizes tens of millions of records and uses artificial intelligence and other technologies to extract text. However, reading cursive has proven to be a challenge for AI programs, making human volunteers essential in the process.

“There’s no application,” said Suzanne Isaacs, a community manager with the National Archives. “You just pick a record that hasn’t been transcribed, read the instructions, and start. It’s easy to do for a half-hour a day or a week.”

To participate, simply sign up on the website—it’s free, and you only need an internet connection to help out. Your transcriptions will make it easier for historians, genealogists, and other experts to find and read these valuable historical documents. Plus, you’ll get the satisfaction of contributing to the preservation of U.S. history!