1 of 4

Write now Article Tools

The Phaistos Disc is one of the most fascinating archaeological enigmas ever discovered. It was found in 1908 in the ruins of the Minoan palace of Phaistos on the southern coast of Crete. The room it was discovered in has been described as a "temple depository," a basement cell that had been deliberately covered over with a layer of white plaster. Nearby was another tablet written in Linear A, one of the two known written languages of the Minoan culture. There was little else in the room except for a few burned animal bones amid a thick layer of black earth and ash material.

Archaeologists dated the Phaistos Disc from 1800 to about 1550 BC based on the archaeological context in which it was found. Predictably, given its unique qualities, a few experts have called it a forgery or fake. It is a clay disc, about 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter and slightly more than a centimeter thick, with symbols inscribed on both sides in a spiraling pattern. No one knows if it should be read from the inside out, or the outside in, although logic indicates that it would have been started at the inside. But the most interesting thing about the characters is that they were created with stamps, making the Phaistos Disc the world's oldest known "printed" document.

The hieroglyphic characters on the Disc are unique. There are a total of 242 distinct symbols, separated into 61 groups, which suggests an arrangement of words of phrases. Other spiraling inscriptions have been found around the Aegean sea, and a few isolated cases of similar glyphs have been identified, but they are singular appearances in widely scattered texts.

One question that comes immediately to mind, then, is why haven't we found other examples? No one would go to the trouble create 45 separate stamps just to print a single document. And again, since the technique was so advanced for its time, why was it printed on clay? Where are the stamps that created it?

The answers to those questions may rest with solving the problem of its place of origin Most clay tablets found in Minoan ruins were either written in Linear A or B scripts which were common to the Minoan culture. The characters on the Phaistos Disc do not remotely resemble either type of writing. Nor do they resemble any other scripts found in the region, with the exception of a few characters scattered about in various texts. Many are clearly recognizable objects, such as fish and birds, an ox yoke, and an axe, among others But that has proven to be of little help

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about The mystery of the Phaistos Disc?
We want to hear your view. Write now!