Online resources

Web sites of general interest

1. SAIA (Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene)
   Founded in 1909, it promotes study and research on different aspects of Greek culture. It organizes and finances excavations (on Crete and in the rest of the Aegean), congresses, seminars and conferences. It houses an important school for post graduate and specialization studies in archeology and epigraphy. It has a large library.
   
2. INSTAP (Institute for Aegean Prehistory)
   Cretan offices of the Institute for Aegean Prehistory, founded in Philadelphia in 1982. Base for American archeological missions in Crete, it also houses researchers from other countries working on the prehistory and protohistory of the island.
   
3. ISPC (Istituto di Scienze del Patrimonio Culturale - CNR)
   Research institute of the Italian National Research Council (CNR) whose mission is to pursue scientific excellence and encourage innovation in knowledge, conservation and use of cultural heritage. Researchers at the institute include specialists in the fields of Aegean, Anatolian and Ancient Near Eastern epigraphy.
   
4. EfA (Ecole française d'Athènes)
   Founded in 1846, it promotes study and research on different aspects of Greek culture. It organizes and finances excavations (including Malia on Crete), congresses, seminars and conferences. It has a large library.
   
5. CAC (Centro di archeologia cretese)
   Research group of the University of Catania, Italy, for the prehistory and protohistory of the Island of Crete. Conducts research on the sites of Phaistos and Agia Triada.
   
6. BSA (The British School at Athens)
   Founded in 1886, it promotes studies and research on different aspects of Greek culture. It organizes and finances excavations (among others, Knossos, and Palekastro on Crete), congresses, seminars and conferences. It has a very well-furnished library and an important laboratory for archeological analysis.
   
7. ASCSA (The American School of Classical Studies at Athens)
   Founded in 1881, it promotes study and research on different aspects of Greek culture. It organizes and finances excavations (many on Crete), congresses, seminars and conferences. It has a very well-furnished library and an important laboratory for archeometric analysis.
   

Institutions, centers for study and research

1. PASP (Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory)
   Research center located in Austin, Texas, founded in 1986, it conducts research on Cretan writing in the bronze age (Cretan hieroglyphics, Linear A and Linear B) and on Cypriot syllabic writing systems (Cypro-Minoan and Classical Cypriot).
   
2. CREWS project (Contexts of and Relations between Early Writing Systems)
   Project funded by the European Research Council and based in Cambridge. The aim of the project is to develop new methodologies for the study of writing systems and their social and material contexts. Case studies include Bronze Age Aegean and Cypriot scripts and their mutual relationships.
   
3. INSCRIBE (Invention of Scripts and Their Beginnings)
   Project funded by the European Research Council and based in Bologna. The project addresses the theme of the invention of writing from a comparative perspective. Among the scripts studied are the Aegean and Cypriot Bronze Age scripts.
   

Academic materials

1. Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean
   Introductory course to the archeology of Aegean prehistory and protohistory, ed. by J. B. Rutter (Dartmouth College, New Hampshire), containing numerous illustrations (see, esp., Lesson 10).
   
2. What is known about Linear A
   Brief introduction to Linear A, ed. by J. Younger (University of Kansas): chronology of the inscriptions, attempts at deciphering, the language of the inscriptions, the phonetic values of the syllabograms, the layout of the administrative documents, possible meanings of some words and logograms, possible values of the signs for fractions, structure of the so-called "libation formulas". The author often expresses opinions which are entirely personal.
   

Texts

1. The mathematical values of fraction signs in the Linear A script: A computational, statistical and typological approach
   Corazza, Michele et alii (2021) The mathematical values of fraction signs in the Linear A script: A computational, statistical and typological approach in Journal of Archaeological Science N. 125.
   The article deals with the possible values of the Linear A fraction signs.
   

Fonts

1. Aegean
   Unicode font designed by George Douros (includes all Cretan "Hieroglyphic" signs).
   
2. The Linear A Fonts and LaTeX Package
   Web page with Linear A fonts (simple signs and complex signs) which can be freely downloaded and used (Latex Project Public License). Ed. Apostolos Syropoulos.
   
3. Noto Linear A
   Unicode font with all Linear A signs published under the SIL Open Font license.
   

Museums and collections

1. Museum of Herakleion (Crete)
   One of the most important museums of Europe. It holds 75% of the inscriptions in Linear A.
   

Collections of texts and digital libraries

1. Scripta minoa (Band 1): The hieroglyphic and primitive linear classes
   On-line version of the monograph by A. Evans, Scripta Minoa I (Oxford 1909), on Cretan "Hieroglyphics" and on Linear A (edited by Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg).
   
2. Linear A lexicon
   Linear A Lexicon, ed. by J. Younger (University of Kansas). The transliteration is purely conventional and consists in attributing to each Linear A sign the values of the homomorphic Linear B sign. The lexicon also contains the syllabograms used as logograms. Each "headword" contains the list of occurrences and a tentative grammatical/lexical classification.
   
3. GORILA. Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A (vol. 1)
   Volume 1 of the Corpus of inscriptions in Linear A, ed. by J.-P. Olivier and L. Godart (Paris, 1976), made available online for private use by the publisher, the Ecole française d'Athènes. The volume contains the tablets published prior to 1970. Every inscription is provided with photo, facsimile, normalized transcription and tabular transcription (in this last one, every line corresponds to an individual entry).
   
4. GORILA. Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A (vol. 2)
   Volume 2 of the Corpus of inscriptions in Linear A, ed. by J.-P. Olivier and L. Godart (Paris, 1979), made available online for private use by the publisher, the Ecole française d'Athènes. The volume contains the nodules and roundels published prior to 1970. Every inscription is provided with photo, facsimile and normalized transcription.
   
5. GORILA. Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A (vol. 3)
   Volume 3 of the Corpus of inscriptions in Linear A, ed. by J.-P. Olivier and L. Godart (Paris, 1976), made available online for private use by the publisher, the École française d'Athènes. The volume contains the tablets, nodules and roundels published in 1975 and 1976. Every inscription is provided with photo, facsimile, normalized transcription and tabular transcription when necessary.
   
6. GORILA. Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A (vol. 4)
   Volume 4 of the Corpus of inscriptions in Linear A, ed. by J.-P. Olivier and L. Godart (Paris, 1982), made available online for private use by the publisher, the École française d'Athènes. The volume contains the inscriptions in Linear A other than archive documents (vases, jewels, etc.). Every inscription is provided with photo, facsimile and normalized transcription. On page XXIII there is a map of the findspots of the Linear A inscriptions found prior to 1982.
   
7. GORILA. Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A (vol. 5)
   Volume 5 of the Corpus of inscriptions in Linear A, ed. by J.-P. Olivier and L. Godart (Paris, 1985), made available online for private use by the publisher, the École française d'Athènes. The volume contains the concordances, indices and tables of signs.
   
8. Linear A Texts in phonetic transcription (Haghia Triada)
   The inscriptions in Linear A from Agia Triada, including those later than GORILA, ed. by J. Younger (University of Kansas). Every inscription is provided with a normalized transcription, a transliteration and an epigraphic comment. The transliteration is purely conventional and consists in attributing to each Linear A sign the values of the homomorphic Linear B sign.
   
9. Linear A Texts in phonetic transcription (Other Texts - not Haghia Triada)
   The inscriptions in Linear A, including those later than GORILA, except those from Agia Triada, ed. by J. Younger (University of Kansas). Every inscription is provided with a normalized transcription, a transliteration and an epigraphic comment. The transliteration is purely conventional and consists in attributing to each Linear A sign the values of the homomorphic Linear B sign.
   
10. Elizabeth Wayland Barber Collection (PASP)
    The Elizabeth Wayland Barber collection consists of scholarly materials related to Linear A, including research data from her dissertation and college thesis. The collection includes manuscripts, bound theses, and scholarly publications (monograph and offprints).
    
11. William Brice Collection (PASP)
    The William C. Brice collection of scholarly materials relates to Linear A and Brice’s editorship of the journal Kadmos. The collection includes Minoan research manuscripts and notes, scholarly publications (monographs and offprints), photographs, and correspondence. Correspondence includes a letter from Michael Ventris to Brice discussing Scripta Minoa III.
    
12. SigLA. The signs of Linear A: a paleographical database
    Site created by Ester Salgarella (Univ. of Cambridge) and Simon Castellan (INRIA, Univ. of Rennes, IRISA). The project focuses on Linear A palaeography. Currently, the database contains a substantial part of the Linear A archival documents.
    
13. Linear A Explorer
    Website with photos and drawings of a substantial number of Linear A inscriptions. For each inscription, a transcription, the findspot and the scribal hand are provided. The site allows the filtering of inscriptions according to words or logograms.
    
14. PA-I-TO project
    Section of the "PA-I-TO project" website (directed by A. Greco, University of Rome, Sapienza) containing RTI and 3D photographs of the Linear A documents preserved in the Museum of Civilizations in Rome (formerly Pigorini Museum).
    

People

1. Arthur Evans (1851-1941)
   Biographic entry about the discoverer of the Palace of Knossos, one of the first researchers who studied Linear A.
   
2. IDAP (International Directory of Aegean Prehistorians)
   The Directory can be queried by name. The entries contain addresses, telephone and fax numbers, email addresses and a brief profile of the researchers.
   

Bibliography

1. Bibliography of Linear A (J. Younger)
   Bibliography (from 1980 on) ed. J. Younger (University of Kansas).
   
2. Specialized bibliography of Linear A (J. B. Rutter)
   Bibliography of Chapter 10 of the Introductory Course of Prehistoric Archeology of the Aegean, ed. by J. B. Rutter (Dartmouth College, New Hampshire).
   
3. SMID. Studies in Mycenaean Inscriptions and Dialect
   Specialized bibliography of research on Linear A and Linear B (1979-1985, 1994-1999) published by the Program in Aegean Scripts and Prehistory at the University of Austin (Texas).
   
4. NESTOR. Bibliography of Aegean Prehistory and Related Areas
   Specialized bibliography of research on Aegean prehistory and protohistory. Entries up to 2006 can be consulted online using the internal research engine. Ed. by the Department of Classics, University of Cincinnati (Ohio).