https://archive.org/ https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.13417 Place of minos at knossos vol.4 pt.1 https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.6672/page/722/mode/2up Place of minos at knossos vol.4; pt.2 Arthur Evans p. 626 p 722 not quite it p. 788 more horse head,but no ti p. 799 is it https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.6672/page/798/mode/2up https://dn760106.eu.archive.org/0/items/in.gov.ignca.6672/6672.pdf p. 453 of pdf

Caption: Linear B script is a syllabary (i.e., a syllabic script) used in Mycenaean Greece (c.1750--c.1050 BCE) to write on clay tablets in Mycenaean Greek which evolved into various forms of later ancient Greek (e.g., Attic Greek (Classical Greek) and Homeric Greek).

All surviving clay tablets are administrative or economic records of some kind. There are NO myths, legends, histories, or narratives (except very brief remarks).

Linear B script clay tablets were first discovered in 1900 at the Minoan palace Knossos on Crete and were attributed by their discoverer by Sir Arthur Evans (1851-1941) to the Minoan civilization that he was then in the process of discovering.

Features:

1. Linear B script was deciphered in 1952 Michael Ventris (1922--1956) building on the work of Alice Kober (1906--1950).

2. In fact, the decipherment was probably long delayed because of the long-delayed publication of transcriptions of many clay tablets by Evans. They were published after his death (i.e., Evans, Arthur, 1952, "Scripta Minoa", with editorial, etc. work by John Myers and Alice Kober).

   If the some 1000 transcriptions had been published in the 1920s, it seems very likely that someone would have done decipherment then because it was completely possible with enough data which is what Kober and Ventris had.

   Evans probably delayed publication of all but some 200 transcriptions in the hope that he himself would have achieved the decipherment.

3. In fact, Evans had a vital clue to decipherment, but he dismissed it as false clue.

   The clue is illustrated in transcription Fig. 773 in Image 1 from Evans, Arthur, 1935, "The Palace of Minos", Vol. IV, Part 2, p. 799 (see Internet Archive: Place of minos at knossos vol.4; pt.2 by Evans, Arthur, p. 799).

   The horse head pictograms probably just emphasize that horse numbers are being counted. The horse heads with small manes are probably to be interpreted as young horses.

   The Cypriot syllabary (used 11th to 4th centuries BCE in Cyprus) which was deciphered (with pronunciation known) in the 19th century has a few symbols that seem similar to those in the Linear B syllabary.

   The two symbols adjacent to the young horse heads interpreted by the Cypriot syllabary are pronounced "polo" and the ancient Greek word for young horse is "polos" (i.e., πωλος). In fact, "polos" is derived from a proto-Indo-European word and is cognate to the English word foal (see Wikipedia: Foal). The Mycenaean Greeks almost certainly pronounced "polos" with the s sound ending, but could NOT spell the s sound in in the Linear B syllabary.

   Evans notes the facts about the transciption in the footnote in Image 1, but dismisses them as leading to a false decipherment.

   Evans strongly believed that the Minoans were NOT Mycenaean Greeks and did NOT speak any kind of Greek. Evans is certainly right for the Minoans, but he did not consider or had dismissed the idea that Mycenaean Greeks could have taken over Knossos by circa 1400 BCE and adapted the Minoan Linear A script to Mycenaean Greek Linear B script.

4. Of course, the identification of ancient Greek word "polos" is correct. If Evans or anyone else had followed up this clue (available to the public in 1935 at the latest), the decipherment of the Linear B script would probably have followed quickly.