The Undeciphered Signs of Linear B
Authors
Judson, AP
Advisors
Meissner, T
Date
2017-01-28Awarding Institution
University of Cambridge
Author Affiliation
Faculty of Classics
Qualification
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Language
English
Type
Thesis
Metadata
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Judson, A. (2017). The Undeciphered Signs of Linear B (Doctoral thesis). https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.11800
Abstract
More than sixty years after Michael Ventris’ decipherment of the Linear B script, 14 of its 87 syllabic signs still have no sound-values assigned to them. This group of ‘undeciphered’ signs represent a significant gap in our ability not only to read the Linear B script, but also to understand its development and use. Chapter 1 of this thesis analyses the origins and usage of signs with known sound-values to establish what types of values are in principle most likely to be found amongst the undeciphered signs: this investigation also enables an exploration of the development of Linear B, its relationship with its parent script Linear A, and the motivating factors underlying the creation of new Linear B signs. Chapter 2 consists of studies of each individual undeciphered sign, including a palaeographic analysis of their forms, discussion of their corpus of attestations, and an examination of their prospects of decipherment and possible sound-values in the light of the results of Chapter 1. Finally, Chapter 3 employs this group of signs in a case-study to explore the potential of palaeographic analysis to contribute to our understanding of wider issues concerning the Linear B script and its context of use within the Mycenaean palaces. This case-study focuses in particular on two main uses of palaeography: as a means of assigning a relative chronology to Linear B texts, and as evidence for the reconstruction of the Mycenaean scribes’ administrative work and training.
Keywords
Linear B, Mycenaean Greek, Greek linguistics, Aegean prehistory, Bronze Age Greece
Sponsorship
AHRC doctoral award (2012-2015), grant number AH/J500094/1
British Federation of Women Graduates, J. Barbara Northend Scholarship (2015-2016)
Faculty of Classics Graduate Studies Fund (2015)
Funder references
AHRC (1222260)
Identifiers
This record's DOI: https://doi.org/10.17863/CAM.11800
Rights
No Creative Commons licence (All rights reserved), All Rights Reserved, Permission has been obtained to include all third-party material, with the exception of some images included in the submitted version of this thesis, which have been removed from this version.
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