Writing in Crete. A Comparison between Cretan Hieroglyphic and Linear A

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between Cretan Hieroglyphic (CH) and Linear A (LA), primarily by comparing the morphology of signs and media. CH and LA were scripts used in Crete during the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. They share some elements but differ in others. Approximately 20% of the signs in the two syllabaries are common, and the scripts overlap for about 150 years, coexisting in some sites. However, the shape of the media is distinctive for each script. CH is older and concentrated in Centraleastern Crete, whereas LA is later and widespread throughout the island and beyond. Given their similarities and differences, the two scripts have been compared since the first discovery at Knossos by Evans to understand their relationship. This comparison has raised several questions, such as why the two scripts coexisted in a limited territory and time period, why they were used at the same site and often for the same purpose, which script appeared first and which was introduced later at a single site, what their origin was, and how much they influenced each other. In this paper, these issues will be examined by analysing the shape of signs and supports of the evidence from sites that have yielded both contemporary CH and LA documents (MM II-LM I), i.e. Petras, Mallia, Knossos, and Phaistos. Their relationship to the (icono)graphic repertoire of the Archanes-type seals will also be considered to help shed light on the origin and evolution of both scripts.