Tentative Lineage 148's Metal Post: Symbols May Be a Numbering System, Still Undeciphered

As previously reported, a metal post roughly 2.3 meters tall drifted onto a Kameido sidewalk, base included, on the night of September 1, and was registered as tentative Lineage 148 after its isotope ratio failed to match any of the 147 confirmed lineages. On the 8th, the Third Appraisal Center offered an interim finding on the symbol sequence on its head, which includes a mark resembling the numeral "7": it may represent not language but a system for counting or ordering quantities. The Center cited the repeating pattern of the symbols, which resembles carry-over notation more than vocabulary, as the basis for the theory. Researchers stopped short of a firm conclusion. "Even if it is a numbering system, we don't know what it was counting," one researcher said. "The purpose of the post itself is still undetermined."

Several patches of worn paint and wire repairs, previously reported, were confirmed on the post's surface, leading the Center to add that "this was likely not something that arrived new, but an object used repeatedly over a long period on the other side." Its resemblance to a bus-stop sign initially suggested a transportation-related purpose, but with the numbering-system theory now on the table, some researchers are considering alternatives such as measurement or inventory tracking. The Center's plan to keep the object under state ownership pending a full appraisal, expected to take several months, remains unchanged.

More than a week after the object drifted in, ordinary foot traffic has returned to the Kameido sidewalk where it was found. "There was a crowd at first, but it's completely back to normal now," a nearby shopkeeper said. The world-line matching database now counts 148 registered lineages in total — 147 confirmed and one tentative. "It's not unusual for a tentative registration to sit for months," an official said. "We'll keep working through it without rushing."