You have seen what Linear A offers (Ku-ro, the Total, The Libation Formula). Linear B was cracked in 1952; Linear A, which uses many of the same signs, still resists. The difference is not cleverness. It is evidence.
Key idea
Linear A cannot be read yet because the texts are few and short, the Minoan language matches no known language, and there is no bilingual text, like the Rosetta Stone, giving the same words in a known script.
| What helped with Linear B | Linear A |
|---|---|
| Tens of thousands of words of text | About 7,400 signs, mostly short |
| Place names known from later Greek | A few place names, also from Linear B |
| A known language (Greek) to test readings against | An unknown language, related to no known one |
| New tablets to test predictions (Ta 641) | Few new texts, mostly short |
| No bilingual needed, thanks to the above | No bilingual found |
Three missing keys
- More text. Patterns need repetition. A few thousand signs, many in names and numbers, give too few.
- A known relative. Ventris could check his readings against Greek. If Minoan belonged to a known family, the borrowed values might produce recognizable words. So far they do not.
- A bilingual. A text giving the same words in Linear A and in a known script would allow readings to be tested directly. None has been found.
Why it works
Why can't the borrowed values simply read Linear A? They give sounds, roughly, but sounds in an unknown language are just syllables. Reading means knowing what words mean and how they fit together. With Linear B the values led straight into Greek, a known language. With Linear A they lead into a language nobody knows, so there is nothing to recognize.
Common mistake
Thinking more cleverness is all it takes. Without more texts, a related known language or a bilingual, there is not enough to test a reading. Check: ask what new evidence a claimed decipherment uses. If none, it is choosing among many possible guesses that the small corpus cannot rule out.
New finds could change this. A large new archive, or a bilingual inscription, would give scholars much more to work with. Until then, Linear A remains, in the words of many specialists, undeciphered.
Worked example: Which is missing?
Which of these did Ventris have for Linear B that Linear A lacks: a known language to test readings against, or a sign list?
- Linear A has a sign list and conventional values.
- What it lacks is a known language.
Answer: A known language to test readings against.
Worked example: What would help most?
Which find would help most to read Linear A: another short ku-ro list, or a long text with the same content in Linear A and in Egyptian?
- Another list adds a little more text.
- A bilingual gives meanings directly, as the Rosetta Stone did for Egyptian.
Answer: The bilingual text.