The Earliest Script on Crete: Semiotics, Linguistics, Archaeology and Palaeography

Notable progress has been made in recent years in our understanding of Cretan Hieroglyphic, a highly ‘iconic’ (image-based) script created and used on the island of Crete some 4,000 years ago. This is the earliest certain attestation of writing in Europe, and the earliest in the broad Aegean script family comprising Linear A, Cypro- Minoan and Linear B. Except for the latter, all these scripts are as yet undeciphered in the sense that the underlying language or languages is/are unknown – although a considerable number of Linear A signs are ‘readable’ with respect to their individual sound value.1 Within this family, Cretan Hieroglyphic is the least well understood. Here we introduce the volume, and the still outstanding problems inherent in this ancient undeciphered writing system