Arkalochori Axe
Encyclopedia
The bronze Arkalochori Axe is a second millennium BC Minoan
Minoan civilization
The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC. It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of the British archaeologist Arthur Evans...

 votive double axe excavated by Spyridon Marinatos
Spyridon Marinatos
Spyridon Nikolaou Marinatos was one of the premier Greek archaeologists of the 20th century.- Career :...

 in 1934 in the Arkalochori
Arkalochori
Arkalochori is a former municipality in the Heraklion peripheral unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Minoa Pediada, of which it is a municipal unit. It lies on the western edge of the Minoa Pediada plain, west of the Lasithi plateau, in...

 cave on Crete
Crete
Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

  which is believed to be part of a religious ritual. It is inscribed with fifteen symbols. It has been suggested that these might be Linear A
Linear A
Linear A is one of two scripts used in ancient Crete before Mycenaean Greek Linear B; Cretan hieroglyphs is the second script. In Minoan times, before the Mycenaean Greek dominion, Linear A was the official script for the palaces and religious activities, and hieroglyphs were mainly used on seals....

 but Professor Glanville Price agrees with Louis Godart
Louis Godart
Louis Godart is an Italian archaeologist of Belgian origins. He is a specialist in Mycenaean archaeology and philology and holds the chair of philology at the University of Naples Federico II...

 that "the characters on the axe are no more than a 'pseudo-inscription' engraved by an illiterate in uncomprehending imitation of authentic Linear A characters on other similar axes." The axe and the Phaistos Disc
Phaistos Disc
The Phaistos Disc is a disk of fired clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos on the Greek island of Crete, possibly dating to the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age . It is about 15 cm in diameter and covered on both sides with a spiral of stamped symbols...

 are conserved in the Iraklion Archaeological Museum
Iraklion Archaeological Museum
The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is a museum located in Heraklion on Crete. It is one the great museums of Greece and the best in the world for Minoan art, as it contains the most notable and complete collection of artifacts of the Minoan civilization of Crete. The museum began in 1883 as a...

.

The Inscription

Of the fifteen signs, two appear to be unique. The suggestions for comparison with Linear A and Phaistos Disc glyphs are due to Torsten Timm (2004).

Reading right to left, top to bottom, the symbols are as follows.
Sign Comment Linear A Phaistos Disc
01
A 304
KA ??
02
AB28
I
D39
03
AB01
DA
04
D02
05
06
AB05
TO ??
07
cf. 04 D02
08
AB80
MA
09
AB04
TE ?
D35
10
cf. 04 D02
11
AB31
SA ??
D19
12
cf. 08 AB80
MA
13
AB06
NA ??
D23
14
Root?
15
A338
?
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