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Category Archives: Hypotheses & Theories
Of kilns and pottery
Each time I go back through photos from Crete, or the lovely book about the kiln found at Kommos, I find myself wondering: where are the pottery words? Linear B needs a word for kiln, for pithos, words for pottery, … Continue reading
José L. Melena and the Pylos Joins
Dr. Melena at the University of the Basque Country is one of my favourite Mycenologists. His writing is, to me, a perfect synthesis of detail-oriented curiosity and evidence-based academic rigor. An example of this are his comments which I’ve included … Continue reading
Posted in Archaeology, Hypotheses & Theories, Inscriptions, People, Publications
Tagged Jose Melena, Linear B, Louis Godart, Minos, Pylos, Thomas Palaima
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[Thesis Generator] sa-pe-ra vs. sa-pi-da
What do you think? 39 years after the 1973 publication of the 2nd edition of Documents in Mycenaean Greek by John Chadwick and Michael Ventris, I still constantly encounter questions that remain open from their early work. I keep a … Continue reading
Khania Linear B Transliterations
The 1989-90 Greek-Swedish Excavations at Kastelli, Khania yielded 4 Linear B artefacts. These transliterations are now available for further study: KH Ar
More great advice on decipherment and interpretation
In A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek Texts and their World vol. II, Yves Duhoux has written a must-read introduction for any aspiring philologist: “Interpreting the Linear B Records: Some Guidelines”. His guidelines apply to far more than just … Continue reading
Linear B Data Project Update – lexicon definitions are growing
One or more definitions are now available for all of the in-tact lexical elements in the following Knossos Linear B series: KN Ag, KN Ai, KN Ak, KN Am, KN Ap, KN As KN B, KN Bg KN C, KN … Continue reading
Posted in Hypotheses & Theories, Inscriptions
Tagged John Chadwick, Linear B, Michael Ventris, Yves Duhoux
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po-ni-ki-jo, what art thou?
po-ni-ki-jo is a favourite Linear B word of mine. The number of definitions suggested for it seems proportionate to the number of Mycenologists who have studied it. Hooker thought perhaps it was a palm tree, Chadwick & Ventris believed it … Continue reading
Posted in Hypotheses & Theories, Inscriptions
Tagged *116, *117, commodities, J.T. Hooker, John Chadwick, Jose Melena, Knossos, Linear B, measurement units, Michael Ventris, po-ni-ki-jo
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Regressive Spelling in Linear B
After reading Woodard’s excellent work, I was curious to see if any consonant rows in Linear B showed consistent signs of regressive spelling statistically. The liquid L/R* consonant row is by far the most consistent in showing signs of regressive … Continue reading
Reference: Linear B Spelling Alternations
1 November 2012 UPDATE: I’m adding these to the individual pages on the Linear B symbols under a new section called “Alternations”. This page will no longer be updated. -kim. Spelling alternations have been incredibly helpful in confirming a symbol’s … Continue reading
The statistics of the phonetic value of AB65 /ju/
As Palmer notes in A Companion to Linear B: Mycenaean Greek Texts and their World vol. 1, “The phonetic value of *65 is probably ju, but this reading has not yet been officially adopted; hence the transliteration ju? is adopted … Continue reading