6.5: Metal

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Writing is also found on metal artefacts. Linear A inscriptions have been found on at least six double axes made of bronze from various parts of Crete (Fri 2007: 68–71). The inscriptions had been made on finished axes. They are all functional axes and several of them show clear evidence of use. A bronze cauldron from Grave IV of Grave Circle A at Mycenae, which has what seems to be a single Linear A sign inscribed near the handle, represents, with the schist fragment and the grave markers mentioned above, one of the very few examples of Cretan writing found on the Greek mainland (Karo 1930–1933: no. 576; Palaima 2003a). Linear A inscriptions occur on three miniature replicas of double axes made of gold, which have been found at Archalochori in central Crete (Marinatos 1935). A large double axe made of bronze was also found in this deposit. It carries an incised inscription, arranged in three vertical columns, in the middle on one of its faces. The signs on the Archalochori Axe are idiosyncratic, and like the Phaistos Disc this may be an example of pseudo-writing (Whittaker 2005). A gold ring and four pins made of gold or silver also have texts in Linear A (Alexiou and Brice 1972; 1976; CMS II.3:38; Godart and Olivier 1982: KNZf13, KR(?) Zf1, PLZf1, KNZf31; Olivier et al. 1981; Platon and Pini 1984: 38). Crete is poor in metals and the copper and tin needed for bronze, as well as gold and silver, must have been imported. Gold and silver, and perhaps also bronze, represent rare and valuable materials (Watrous 2001: 165; Rehak and Younger 2001: 415). However, the range of metal objects on which writing is found on Crete suggests that writing may have been in more common use on materials which do not survive well than the actual archaeological evidence would indicate.