6.3: Material Practices of Writing

My primary purpose in this chapter is to assess the function and meaning of writing in the prehistoric Aegean by focusing on the material practices of writing. During the Middle and Late Bronze Ages (c.2000–1200 bc) an uncertain number of scripts was in use on Crete. In the pre-Mycenaean period, the two most important are known as Linear A and Minoan or Cretan Hieroglyphic (Figures 1–2; see also Flouda, this volume). Although the two writing systems do not seem to have been used for exactly the same purposes, as they occur on different types of documents, they were both associated with the palatial administration. Linear A is in its earliest form found at the Palace at Phaistos in south-central Crete, while Minoan Hieroglyphic was associated with the palaces at Knossos, Malia, and Petras in the north and northeast (see also Flouda, Finalyson and Tomas, all this volume). Both scripts are syllabic. After the destruction of the first palaces (c.1700 bc), Cretan Hieroglyphic seems to go out of use and is replaced by Linear A for reasons that are still unclear (cf. Finalyson, this volume).

As the two forms of writing can be geographically differentiated in the early palatial period, it is a plausible assumption that they represent different languages, but in view of the fact that neither script has been deciphered this cannot be verified (cf. Olivier 1986: 387; Schoep 1999: 265; 2007; see Younger and Rehak 2008: 176 for the view that there was only one Cretan language). It has, however, been suggested that Linear A and Cretan Hieroglyphic have a common origin in an earlier prepalatial script, known as the ‘Archanes script’ (Figure 3). This early form of writing takes its name after Archanes in central Crete, where a number of seals inscribed with this script were found in burials (Schoep 1999: 266–267; 2006: 45–46, n. 73). If it is the case that both Linear A and Cretan Hieroglyphic have the same origin, the later development of two different

forms of writing associated with the palatial administration in different parts of the island is perhaps to be seen in terms of the deliberate construction of separate regional identities, in which language may or may not have been a factor.

In the Late Bronze Age a new script known as Linear B was invented and became the only script in use on both Crete and the Greek mainland (Figure 4a–b; see Tomas, this volume). Linear B was developed from Linear A in order to write Greek and was closely associated with the Mycenaean palace administration. In contrast to Linear A and Cretan Hieroglyphic, Linear B has been deciphered and the documents on which it occurs can be read with a high degree of certainty. Exactly when Linear B was invented is an open question, but it may have been much earlier than the date of the first documents that have been preserved. Whether Linear B was first used on Crete or on the Mainland is also an open question.

A thin clay disc known as the Phaistos Disc represents another possible but controversial example of writing. It was found with a fragment of a Linear A tablet and dates to the Middle Bronze Age. A number of signs, some of them repeated, are arranged in a spiral on both sides of the disc. A few are vaguely comparable to signs of the Cretan hieroglyphic script, but on the whole they bear no conclusive resemblance to either Linear A or Cretan Hieroglyphic. If the signs constitute writing it is in an otherwise unattested form. As a writing support the disc is also unique in its circular shape and in contrast to the clay tablets used in the palatial administrative systems it had been deliberately baked. Strictly speaking, a form of writing that is attested solely on a single artefact should not be really classified as an example of a functional writing system. I have else- where suggested that the inscription on the Phaistos Disc could be an example of pseudo-writing (Whittaker 2005; cf. Flouda, this volume).

In the Aegean writing occurs on a number of different types of material supports, made of clay, bone, stone or metal. The use of these varies with time and place. The range of materials used as supports is much more extensive for Crete than for the Greek mainland. Clay tablets represent the largest group of preserved texts. Their use was associated with the palatial administration on both Crete and the mainland and spans the Middle and Late Bronze Ages. Their first occurrence is associated with the establishment of the Minoan palace system c.2000 bc. The latest tablets date to the destruction of the Mycenaean palaces c.1200 bc. Clay was a material that was readily available, as good sources are found on both Crete and the Greek mainland. Clay tablets are objects that have been fashioned solely for the purpose of being written on, and their shape and size would have been determined by the specifics of this use, by the system of storage, or by the needs of the scribes. They were used for all three of the major scripts, and the shape of the tablet correlates with the type of writing found on them. Cretan Hieroglyphic is generally found on two-sided or four-sided bars, while Linear A and Linear B are found on page-shaped tablets; the ones used for Linear A are generally smaller than the ones used for Linear B. Linear B is also found on tablets which are much wider than they are long (often called leaf-shaped or palm leaf-shaped). The tablets sometimes have writing on more than one side; the four-sided bars are generally inscribed on all sides. All types of tablets were made in the same way. After being fashioned from the wet clay, they were air-dried until they had hardened to the consistency of leather and were ready to be written on. Some kind of stylus with a sharp point was used for writing. It has been claimed that the function of several thin rods made of bone and in one case of bronze found at Tiryns was for writing Linear B (Cultraro 2006: 24). Otherwise, styli have not been recognised in the archaeological record, which may be an indication that they were commonly made of wood and thus less likely to survive. This is perhaps indicated by the fact that some inscriptions include the impressions of a stylus that had been roughly made and in some cases had a split end (Hallager 1996: 29). Chadwick (1976: 18) suggests that a thorn fastened to some kind of holder could have been used for the very fine writing found on some tablets.

When a scribe had finished recording information on a tablet it was left to dry completely before being placed in a basket or a wooden container and archived. It was possible to reuse a tablet which had already been inscribed and dried by moistening it so that the surface could be flattened and whatever had been written on it erased. When it had dried sufficiently, the tablet could then be re-inscribed. Many Linear A tablets are in fact palimpsests, indicating that the palace bureaucracies had some kind of recycling scheme in place (Schoep 2002: 79). The use of clay tablets can be seen as providing material weight and durability to the information recorded on them. It is, however, possible that for certain types of texts in the palace bureaucracies, clay may have been chosen as a support because its material properties afforded impermanency as much as permanency (see also Piquette, this volume). In light of evidence for re-use, the information recorded on clay tablets, in all or most cases, may have been of an ephemeral nature. Nevertheless, since all Aegean tablets were unbaked, their survival as archaeological artefacts was dependent on them being exposed to fire in some other way. The majority that have been preserved as legible documents have been found in the destruction layers of the palaces, which they do not in most cases antedate by long periods of time.

Other types of clay objects that may carry script are the so-called roundels, various types of sealings, and ceramic vessels used for storage or transport. Roundels are thick clay disks with seal impressions, which have usually been inscribed with signs in Linear A on one or both faces (see also Finalyson, this volume). Their function is uncertain, but almost all have been found in archival contexts; one suggestion is that they were receipts given in return for the delivery of goods from the palaces (Hallager 1996: 116–120). Their use is restricted to the period of the new palaces on Crete (c.1700 – c.1450 bc). All three scripts can occur on sealings. However, while a stylus was always used to write Linear A and B on all types of clay documents, Cretan Hieroglyphic could also be written with seals, which were pressed into the clay in order to produce a meaningful text. Like the tablets, roundels and sealings have only been preserved if they have been accidently burnt. All three scripts can also be found either inscribed or painted on different types of ceramic vases. Texts in Linear B were normally painted on the pots before they were fired. Inscriptions on pots were meaningful in the sense that they were intended to provide information about place or time of fabrication, ownership or function. Potsherds, often referred to with the Greek word ostraka, were commonly used for informal writing in the historical Greek period (Thomas 1992: 57, 83 compares them to our scrap paper). This does not seem to have been the case in the Bronze Age. As far as I know, the only example from the prehistoric Aegean is an ostrakon from Akrotiri on Thera in the Cyclades, which has some kind of calculation in Linear A scratched on it (Michailidou 1992–1993).