Researchers have used clues from Minoan script to decode Mycenaean Linear B records and shed new light on how Bronze Age scribes recorded spices, roots, and other goods used in the ancient perfume industry.
The study, led by Silvia Ferrara and published by De Gruyter, examines two still-debated signs in Linear B, the script used by Mycenaean Greek administrators. The findings suggest that scribes used careful graphic choices to avoid confusion in palace records.
Linear B tablets from Pylos and Knossos show that Mycenaean palaces managed a major perfume industry. Workers mixed olive oil with spices and aromatics. These scented oils were likely valuable trade goods. They also helped palace elites build wealth and prestige.
But the tablets are brief. They list goods and quantities, not recipes. Many signs for ingredients remain unclear. Ferrara and her colleagues studied these signs by comparing them with Linear A, the older Minoan script used on Crete.
Clues from a root sign
One key sign is known as Linear B *157. It appears on tablets from Pylos linked to perfume-making. The tablets also list ingredients such as coriander, cyperus, honey, wine, and wool.
Earlier scholars suggested that *157 may refer to a “root.” The new study strengthens that idea. Researchers argue that part of the sign looks like a plant root. Another part may stand for the first sound of the Mycenaean Greek word for root.
The team then compared the sign with a similar mark in Linear A. That sign, called A646, appears on a tablet from Haghia Triada in Crete. Both signs share a similar shape. Both also combine a root-like symbol with another sign placed above it.
Researchers suggest that the Minoan sign may have worked similarly. It may have marked a root or root-like plant product. That would mean Mycenaean scribes may have inherited or adapted an older Minoan way of recording goods.
The study does not claim full certainty. Linear A remains undeciphered. But the comparison offers a new path for reading signs that have long resisted interpretation.
Perfume records become clearer
The study also looks at another sign group written as KA+PO. Scholars have often linked it with the Greek word for “fruit.” But Ferrara and her colleagues argue that the sign likely did not mean ordinary fruit in these records.
The reason is context. A fully written form, ka-po, appears at Knossos and seems to refer to fruit, possibly olives. But KA+PO appears at Pylos in perfume-related tablets. It is listed with spices and aromatics, not fruit.
Researchers argue that scribes used two different forms for two different goods. The written form ka-po likely meant “fruit.” The joined sign KA+PO may have meant a spice, dry stalk, or aromatic plant material used in perfume-making.
This matters because it shows that Linear B scribes were not careless record keepers. They used visual strategies to separate goods that could otherwise be confused.
A more precise writing system
Linear B is often seen as limited because it could not easily record all sounds in Greek. Some written words could be read in more than one way. But the study suggests that scribes had ways to solve this problem.
They used full spellings for some items. They used joined signs or logograms for others. These choices helped palace officials read inventories quickly and accurately.
The findings also show the value of looking back to Linear A. Although the Minoan script is still not understood, its signs may help explain how Mycenaean scribes built their own writing system.
The study offers more than a reading of two ancient signs. It shows how small marks on clay tablets can reveal the logic of palace administration, trade, and craft production in the Bronze Age Aegean.
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