The Ariana Projectundeciphered · readings are proposals, not translationsAll textsWordsWho were the Minoans?The data

The Ariana Project: Deciphering Linear A

Every inscribed face of the corpus, transliterated sign by sign, beside every meaning anyone has proposed for it — attributed to whoever proposed it, and rated for how far it is accepted. The script is undeciphered; nothing here is a translation of record.

SearchFind a word by a proposed meaning, or by its signs.

faces
1,884
with text
1,707
words
1,740 (1,101 distinct)
readings
39 from 5 sources

Famous texts

  • The Mavro Spilio ringKN Zf 13 · Knossos

    A gold signet ring from a tomb in the Mavro Spilio cemetery at Knossos. Its text runs in a spiral, 19 signs with no word divider, so where it starts and where its words break are both open questions.

  • The Iouktas libation tableIO Za 2 · Mount Juktas

    A stone offering table from the peak sanctuary on Mount Juktas. It carries the best-preserved example of the libation formula, a sequence that recurs on vessels from several sanctuaries.

  • An Arkalochori axeAR Zf 1 · Arkalochori

    A small votive double axe of precious metal from the cave at Arkalochori. Its four signs, i-da-ma-te, are the whole text, and the second axe repeats them.

  • The second Arkalochori axeAR Zf 2 · Arkalochori

    The companion to AR Zf 1, from the same cave and with the same four signs. One sequence on two objects is a small piece of evidence that it is a word.

  • The Platanos pinPL Zf 1 · Platanos, Mesara

    A metal pin from Platanos. It carries ja-sa-sa-ra-me, a word of the libation formula, on a personal object rather than a stone vessel from a sanctuary.

  • The Knossos pinKN Zf 31 · Knossos

    A metal pin from Knossos with nine words separated by dividers: one of the longest Linear A texts that is not an account.

  • An ink-written cupKN Zc 6 · Knossos

    A cup from Knossos with its text written in ink on the inside. Ink on clay hints at how much Linear A was written on materials that have not survived.

  • The second ink-written cupKN Zc 7 · Knossos

    The companion to KN Zc 6: another Knossos cup inscribed in ink, its words separated by dividers.

  • A wine account that adds upHT 13 · Hagia Triada

    A tablet from Haghia Triada headed by the wine sign. Its whole-number entries sum to 130, the figure that follows ku-ro: the clearest evidence that ku-ro means total.

  • ki-ro and ku-ro togetherHT 88 · Hagia Triada

    A tablet from Haghia Triada with both accounting words. Six entries of 1 follow ki-ro and sum to the 6 after ku-ro, which is why ki-ro is central to the debate over its meaning.

  • The vessel listHT 31 · Hagia Triada

    A tablet from Haghia Triada that pairs words with drawings of vessels and quantities. It is one of the few places where a word can be tied to the kind of thing it names.

  • A list of tenHT 117a · Hagia Triada

    A tablet from Haghia Triada with a heading and ten entries, each followed by 1, and ku-ro 10 at the end. Lists like this are where personal names are looked for.

Libation vessels

  • PK Za 11Palaikastroa-ta-i-*301-wa-e · a-di-ki-te-te¦ ·
  • IO Za 2Iouktasa-ta-i-*301-wa-ja · ja-di-ki-tu · ja-sa-sa-ra¦-me · u-na-ka-na¦-si¦ ·¦ i-pi-na-m
  • PK Za 12Palaikastroa-ta-i-*301-wa-ja · a-di-ki-te¦
  • KOZ a1Kophinasa-ta-i-*301-wa-ja
  • TL Za 1Troullosa-ta-i-*301-wa-ja · o-su-qa-re ·
  • ZA Zb 3ZakrosAB131/VIN 32
  • AP Za 2Apodoulou¦na-si · i-pi-na-ma¦ ·¦ i-ku-pa3-na-tu-na-te¦
  • PK Za 8Palaikastro¦nu · pa3-e · ja-di-ki-te-te-*307-pu2-re · tu-me-i

All texts, by findspot →

The best-understood tablet

7 of the 9 words on HT 31, from Hagia Triada, have a proposed meaning — more different words than on any other tablet. This is about as far as Linear A can be read: what kind of thing a word names, from where it stands in a list, and not yet which thing.

  • qa-pa3a vessel or container typewidely accepted— HT 31 layout
  • su-pua vessel or container typewidely accepted— HT 31 layout
  • ka-ro-pa3a vessel or container typewidely accepted— HT 31 layout
  • sa-ja-maa vessel or container type, or its contentsdebated— HT 31 layout
  • ki-de-ma-*323-naan entry in a list of vessels; a vessel term (?)debated— HT 31 layout
  • su-pa3-raa vessel or container typewidely accepted— HT 31 layout
  • pa-ta-qea vessel or container typewidely accepted— HT 31 layout

SQLite in your browser

Loads web.db (355 KB gzipped) into SQLite compiled to WebAssembly, then asks where ja-sa-sa-ra-me occurs.

Built from corpus 3a83a327505b.