When does a continuum become a divide? This book investigates the genetic relationship between Linear A and Linear B, two Bronze Age scripts attested on Crete and Mainland Greece and understood to have developed one out of the other. By using an interdisciplinary methodology, this research integrates linguistic, epigraphic, palaeographic and archaeological evidence, and places the writing practice in its sociohistorical setting. By challenging traditional views, this work calls into question widespread assumptions and interpretative schemes on the relationship between these two scripts, and opens up new perspectives on the ideology associated with the retention, adaptation and transmission of a script, and how identity was negotiated at a moment of closer societal interaction between Cretans and Greek-speaking Mainlanders in the Late Bronze Age. By delving deeper into the structure and inner workings of these two writing systems, this book will make us rethink the relationship between Linear A and B.

Interdisciplinary examination of the transmission process of Linear A to Linear B script.

About the Author
Ester Salgarella is a Junior Research Fellow at St John's College, Cambridge and in the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, specialising in Bronze Age Aegean scripts.


Book Information
ISBN 9781108742672
Author Ester Salgarella
Format Paperback
Page Count 436
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 1040g
Dimensions(mm) 276mm * 202mm * 23mm