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Name : Phaistos Disk
What it is : A fired clay disk encipher with symbolisation that have never been trace
More than 100 years after its discovery, thePhaistos Disk is still undecipherable.
Where it is from : The ancient Minoan culture on the Mediterranean island of Crete
When it was made : More than 3,000 twelvemonth ago
Related : Nabta Playa : A mysterious Edward Durell Stone circle that may be the existence ’s oldest astronomical observatory
What it tells us about the past :
The Phaistos Disk was discovered in 1908 by an Italian archeologist on Crete . ab initio , some scholars thought it was a forgery , but it is now generally accepted as reliable — although some researchersstill have doubt .
The Minoans were a Bronze Age citizenry who lived on Crete and nearby islands in the easterly Mediterranean Sea . Their civilisation is renowned for its art and architecture , and is thought to have barrack the earlyMycenaeancivilization on the Greek mainland .
When their amazing ruins were turn up in the 19th century , the Minoans were named after the mythological king Minos of Grecian legends , who save aMinotaur in a labyrinthunder his castle at Knossos on Crete , until the beast was killed by the Athenian torpedo Theseus . But experts call up the Minoans lived on Crete between about 3100 and 1150 B.C. — plausibly centuries before Minos and Theseus might have survive in the twelfth hundred B.C.
The saucer was found in the downfall of a Minoan castle at Phaistos , an archaeological site the south coast of Crete . Measuring some 6 inch ( 15 centimeters ) in diameter , it is inscribed with two spirals of symbolic representation , one on each side , which most experts guess is a script . But what the symbolisation say has never been determined , although there have been many attempt .
— Scythian on hogback : A 2,400 - year - old gold carving of a warrior heading into battle
— Cave of Swimmers : 9,000 - year - onetime rock art of people swimming in what ’s now the desiccate Sahara
— Jade burial suit : 2,000 - class - old ' immortality ' armor worn by Chinese royalty
In total the disk has 241 occurrence of 45 symbolic representation . Some symbolisation intelligibly portray people , while others depict animals , plant life , weapons , tools and other objects . They are group into " words " by vertical strokes , but nothing is sleep together about how the symbolization sound or function .
other interpretations suggested the symbols were an too soon drop a line build of Greek that draw an animal forfeit acquit out in a temple ; but a2004 interpretation suggestedthey organize a letter about a dispute over land write in the Luwian language of ancient Anatolia ( advanced Turkey ) .
Still others propose it was written in Hittite ; or Egyptian ; or that it was either a petition to a goddess or a funeral anthem , but written in an unidentified language .
