What is Linear A:
Linear A was the writing system of the Minoans, used on Crete from around 1800 to 1450 BC. It shows up mostly on clay tablets and religious objects, where it was used to keep records and for ritual purposes. The script is made up of symbols that represent both whole words and syllables, arranged in horizontal lines. Archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans gave it the name “Linear A” when he uncovered it in the early 1900s.
Why Hasn’t Linear A been solved/resolved?:
1. Unknown Underlying Language
Linear B worked because it turned out to be Greek — a language we already know.
Linear A isn’t Greek. Scholars call the language “Minoan,” but no one knows what it was related to.
2. Too Little Surviving Text?
We only have about 1,400 inscriptions of Linear A, mostly short lists or single words.
Compare that to the thousands of long Linear B tablets that allowed patterns to emerge. (This part I personally disagree with)
3. Overlap That Misleads
Linear A and Linear B share many signs.
Early scholars hoped Linear A was just an earlier form of Greek like Linear B, but that doesn’t work, the words don’t line up with Greek vocabulary.
So the “easy path” that worked for Linear B doesn’t apply here.
4. No Bilingual “Rosetta Stone”
Linear B had indirect clues through place names and Greek continuity.
Linear A has no bilingual text (like Egyptian hieroglyphs had with the Rosetta Stone).
5. The Texts Aren’t “Literary”
Most Linear A inscriptions are administrative lists (commodities, numbers, names). (Sound familiar like in some of my other research I have done oddly enough… Suspicious?)
It’s like trying to understand English if all you had were grocery receipts.