MASt Spring Seminar (2022): (Re)Configuring Linear A & Digital Configurations (original) (raw)

2023, Classical Continuum

What if we started to question the unquestionable? Could we ever get a glimpse at what is hidden behind the veil of Maya? By questioning a number of criteria that have traditionally been used to systematise the ‘Minoan’ Linear A script of Bronze Age Crete so as to make it (to an extent) intelligible to us, this talk proposes to re-evaluate some of the basic assumptions that have so far underpinned our interpretation of Linear A and to offer an alternative way of looking at this script from a more nuanced perspective. To this end, a two-fold approach will be followed. First, Linear A will be investigated at a structural level, to flag up the pitfalls of the current sign classification and pinpoint alternative taxonomic models. Second, a comprehensive palaeographic investigation of Linear A administrative documents, taken as a case study, will be carried out to disentangle some of this script’s graphic complexities, then compared with evidence from its offshoot ‘Mycenaean’ Linear B. The integrated results of this investigation will no doubt make us rethink the way in which we look at Linear A and wonder whether this way is still a productive one. It will then be shown how digital approaches will play a key role in taking this research a step further, allowing us to re-systematise the evidence at our disposal by setting different and customisable parameters. In the digital era, it is now hoped that also Linear A research will soon benefit from the application of computational techniques to its kaleidoscopic dataset. To cite this paper: Salgarella, E. 2023. ‘(Re-)Configuring Linear A & Digital Configurations’, in Pierini, R. & Palaima, T. (eds.), MASt - Meetings on Aegean Studies (Spring 2022), Classical Continuum, §§ 41-64