The Infinite ArchiveTHE INFINITE ARCHIVEHISTORY · SCIENCE · MYSTERY
Ink inscription in Linear A inside a Minoan cup (drawing by Arthur Evans)
Ink inscription in Linear A inside a Minoan cup (drawing by Arthur Evans). Image: Arthur Evans (1925) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
Unexplained mysteries · Bronze Age Crete · c. 1800–1450 BCE

Linear A: The Minoan Script

Unresolved1800 BCE – 1450 BCEHagia Triada and other sites, Crete

We can read its numbers and some words for goods — but not its language.

Research draft · editor review pending. Every claim below is linked to a checked source, but this dossier has not yet been reviewed by a human editor. Spot an error? Corrections are logged.

Linear A was the main writing system of the Minoans of Bronze Age Crete. It appears on clay tablets, stone offering tables, metal pins and pottery. Its successor, Linear B, was deciphered in 1952 and turned out to record an early form of Greek, so many Linear A signs can be given approximate sound values.

Loading the full dossier…

Connected dossiers

The Phaistos DiscSame open question · Another undeciphered Minoan text.Mohenjo-daro: The Planned City of the IndusSame open question · The Indus script is also undeciphered.The Late Bronze Age CollapseSame era · Bronze Age Aegean.

See Linear A in the discovery universe →

Ask the archive

Have a question about this dossier, or think a claim needs a better source? Send it to the editors.

Questions go to the editors and are not published automatically. Please do not include personal information.

How to read the labels

EstablishedSupported by strong, converging evidence.
ContestedEvidence exists but qualified scholars disagree.
UnresolvedThe question is open; evidence does not settle it.
LegendComes from myth, literature or tradition, not physical evidence.
SpeculativeA hypothesis with little direct evidence so far.

Hero image: Ink inscription in Linear A inside a Minoan cup (drawing by Arthur Evans). Image: Arthur Evans (1925) · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons. Evidence labels describe the written claims, not the image. Version 1 · updated 2026-10-22.