Heraklion Archaeological Museum - CollectiveAccess System : Tablets : Clay tablet [Π-Ν1365]

Writing in Ancient Crete ➔ Clay tablet

Π-Ν1365

Clay

Intact

Maximum height: 6 cm. Width: 4.1 cm.

Hagia Triada

Casa del Lebete, Room 9

Late Bronze Age. Neopalatial period, Late Minoan ΙB period.:

1500-1450 BC:

Gallery:

Case:

Exhibition thematic unit:

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

Scripts and sealing practices

Description

Clay Linear A tablet, a list recording quantities of barley, olive oil, figs, wine and bovids. Although Linear A remains undeciphered, it is a syllabic script. At least ninety signs were syllabograms, symbols phonetically representing syllables, while other symbols called logograms represented objects, commodities or living creatures. By incising these signs on small rectangular tablets of unfired clay, specialised scribes kept brief accounting lists of agricultural goods (figs, cereals, olives, wine and olive oil), textiles and vessels, people and animals (sheep, goats, cows, pigs).

Bibliography:

Montecchi, B. Contare a Haghia Triada. Le tavolette in Lineare A. I documenti sigillatti e il sistema economico-amministrativo nel TM IB. Roma, 2019, 62, 123-125, 132, 185. Godart, L. and J.-P. Olivier. Recueil des inscriptions en Lin?aire A. Volume 1. Paris, 1976, 204-205.

Author:

G. F.

Photographs' metadata