Words
These marks were a puzzle for a long time. People counted what repeated. Then they tested a guess.
These marks were a puzzle for a long time. People counted what repeated. Then they tested a guess.
The writing that came back
What if we count what repeats?
Do you think some marks come back?
Look along a row. Then say.
Keep looking
This is not a story of one person who woke up and could read.
- Emmett Bennett made a list so everyone counted the same marks.
- Alice Kober found groups of three. The start stayed. The ending changed.
- Michael Ventris tried sounds, including place names, and checked other tablets.
- John Chadwick, who knew Greek, helped test whether the language was an early form of Greek.
Linear B writes Mycenaean Greek. The tablets are palace records: oil, sheep, people, offerings. Fire baked some of them when palaces burned. That is why they survive.
This is a careful guess. A guess that fits in one place must still fit on another tablet.
When you leave
Copy three short words. Change only the ending of each. Ask someone what stayed the same.
Try with a grown-up. Look at the same thing. Look at the same line of writing together. Count the marks that come back.
If someone found your writing 1,000 years from now, how would they know what it meant?