In Search of Lost Signs: A New Approach to the Issue of Writing and Non‐writing on Cretan Hieroglyphic Seals

Abstract

This article addresses a long-debated topic related to the hieroglyphic script from the island of Crete, namely the status of its sign-list. The signs of this script are predominantly image-based and as such their inherent position as bona fide signs of writing or, alternatively, decorative symbols with no specific relation to language has raised issues of inclusion or exclusion from the sign-list as presented in the standard corpus of inscriptions. This article aims to propose a new approach based on a contextual, distributional, and structural architecture of criteria. The goal is to reach a balanced reassessment of the evidence and contribute to a definitive sign-list. This represents a fundamental step for any cogent decipherment attempt. LOST SIGNS? WRITING AND NON-WRITING ON CRETECretan Hieroglyphic (CH), the earliest form of writing on the island of Crete, is a puzzling script. Not just because the language it records is unknown, but also because its repertoire of signs is still debated. The standard reference list is the corpus published in 1996, known as CHIC, which comprises 96 signs interpreted as syllabograms as well as a number of logograms, numerical signs, and punctuation signs, such as the cross stiktogram which will be addressed below (Fig. 1). Today the corpus amounts to fewer than 150 inscriptions on clay, about 200 carved on semi-precious sealstones, several impressions on clay lumps, and painted signs on vessels, lids, and potter's wheels. 1 The script forms a template for the later Linear A and B scripts attested on the island (inter 1 Our analysis draws on the published corpora of inscriptions (CHIC as well as CMS), including the online catalogue of ARACHNE, which contains a total of 3354 seal faces, of which only 323 show CH signs. This number (323) represents c.95% of all epigraphic seals. We also included three new inscriptions: PE S (3/4) 01, PE S (3/4) 02, and SY Hf 01. PE S (3/4) 01 and 02 are labels assigned by Del Freo (2017, 7-8) respectively to seals P.TSK06/145 and P.TSK05/259 (Krzyszkowska 2012, 151-2, n. 24). We personally scrutinized several inscriptions housed at five different institutions: the Heraklion Archaeological Museum, the Stratigraphical Museum of Knossos, the Archaeological Museum of Chania, the Archaeological Museum of Agios Nikolaos in Crete; and the National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography Luigi Pigorini in Rome. Younger 2000-22 was a constant resource consulted. Avaialble at: [http://people.ku.edu/~jyounger/Hiero/SignNotes.html].

A Systematic Review of Computational Approaches to Deciphering Bronze Age Aegean and Cypriot Scripts

“…This would make the Cretan hieroglyphic script logo-syllabic. A list of Cretan hieroglyphic signs can be found in (Ferrara, Montecchi, and Valério 2023).…”