HOW A SEARCHABLE DATABASE IS HELPING DECIPHER A LOST LANGUAGE

A cryptographer “solved” Minoan B from ancient Cretan culture in the 1950s but Minoan A remained a mystery until recently

NEWS MAY 21, 2021

There was once a flourishing civilization on the island of Crete called the Minoan culture (3000–11100 B.C.). Two languages are associated with it, Minoan A and, later, Minoan B. Minoan B was deciphered but Minoan A has remained a mystery that has “tormented linguists for many decades,” as Patricia Klaus puts it. Deciphering it would give us a window back as far as 1800 BC.:

Linear A, which was used by the Minoans during the Bronze Age, exists on at least 1,400 known inscriptions made on clay tablets. The language has baffled the world’s top archaeologists and linguistic experts for many years.

PATRICIA CLAUS, “MINOAN LANGUAGE LINEAR A LINKED TO LINEAR B IN GROUNDBREAKING NEW RESEARCH” AT GREEK REPORTER (MAY 13, 2021)

So most of what we know is simply the many works of art and architecture they left to posterity:



Sometimes, we can break codes if we make fresh assumptions. For example, in 1952, cryptographer Michael Ventris (1922–1956) broke broke Minoan B, which was used on Crete after 1400 B.C., by making two key new assumptions: Many repeated words were place names on the island and the language was an early variant of Greek. Both those assumptions turned out to be correct when tested.

More:
https://mindmatters.ai/2021/05/how-a-searchable-database-is-helping-decipher-a-lost-language/