Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Clay objects : Clay figurine with Linear A inscription [Π6585]

Clay figurine with Linear A inscription

Π6585

Clay

Mended, Incomplete arms.

Height: 6 cm.

Tylissos

West House

Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Middle Minoan ΙΙΙ-Late Minoan ΙB period.:

1700-1450 BC:

Gallery:

Case:

Exhibition thematic unit:

Late Bronze Age - Neopalatial period (1700-1450 BC). The New Palaces. The zenith of Minoan civilisation

Linear A and cult

Description

Clay male figurine from a house in Tylissos, probably representing a worshipper. It is undecorated except for a brief incised inscription in Linear A running down the torso. This is one of only three human figurines with an incised or painted inscription known to date. The other two were found in excavations in Chania and Poros in Heraklion. Although the primary purpose of Linear A was the recording and storage of accounting information, objects such as these show that the script was also used in rituals and events associated with religious expression and the transcendental sphere.

Bibliography:

Godart, L. and J.-P. Olivier. Recueil des inscriptions en Lin?aire A. Volume 4. Paris, 1982, 170. Flouda, G. "Materiality of Minoan Writing: Modes of display and perception." In K.E. Piquette and R.D. Whitehouse (eds), Writing as Material Practice: Substance, surface and medium. London, 2013, 143-174.

Author:

G. F.

Photographs' metadata