Archaeological artifacts bearing Linear A inscriptions number 1,440, including 20 found outside Crete. Of 178
syllabic letters, about 50 are similar to those of Linear B, but only 5 of these could with any certainty be identified
as corresponding directly to Linear B symbols or the Cypro-Minoan syllabary system.
Aſt er the deciphering of Linear B, eff orts to decipher Linear A multiplied in the hope that the phonetic values
of the symbols in the two scripts would not prove to be substantially diff erent. The diffi culties which objectively
arose with the decryption of a syllabic, and therefore an incomplete, free form script, naturally led to the alleged
identifi cation in Linear A texts of words from Semitic (H. Gordon3), Luwian (L. Palmer4), Proto-Indo-European (Vl.
Georgiev5), Hittite (S. Davis6) or Hittite-Luwian languages. The publications of Paul Faure7 are the exception, in
that he identifi es Greek words which are inscribed on fi bulae (pins or brooches), as I have mentioned in my book
on the Linear A script.
For my book “Linear A - A Contribution to the Understanding of an Aegean Script”, I undertook the study of a
total of 55 inscriptions on tablets and other artifacts and 830 of the 1,020 engraved sealstones. This quantity
corresponds to 65% of all 1,430 documented Linear A inscriptions.