Minoan Linear A: A Provisional Balance Sheet

The decipherment in 1952 by Michael Ventris of the prehistoric script known as Minoan Linear B at once suggested that here lay the key to the earlier Cretan script called Linear A. Linear B was proved to be a syllabic script which represented, imperfectly but just adequately, the Greek language in a form more archaic than any other surviving records. At an early stage in our short-lived partnership I discussed with Ventris the possibility of applying the results to the older script, and we both made certain experiments; but we concluded that the situation did not allow any easy progress, and being deeply committed to the development of his Linear B theory, we decided to leave this field to others, at any rate for the time being. Since then a great deal of work on Linear A has been published by other scholars, almost all of it based upon the decipherment of Linear B, and equally inspired by the success which attended the solution of the major problem. It is not, perhaps, too soon to review some of these attempts and appraise the progress made so far. We are clearly far from an agreed solution; but there are encouraging signs that the true solution is not too far beyond our grasp, though I for one doubt whether it can be achieved by mere ingenuity. I should like to emphasize at the outset that I am completely neutral in the controversies which are raging, and this account is intended to be quite impartial.