________________
CRETAN SCRIPTS
UNDECIPHERED SCRIPTS OF CRETE
E
Pictographic Scripts
From E.M. I (thirtieth century B.C.) onwards, seal-engraving was practised; the seals were made mostly of steatite, later also of ivory; they were large, conical or three-sided. The engraved subjects were mainly decorative designs such as meanders, but there were also some crude picture-symbols including simplified human figures, and some
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Poline
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Fig. 36 Cretan inscriptions
of the "Pictographic Class A (1) and "Pictographic Class B" (2 and 3). 4. Cretan pictographic symbols
73
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seals seem to show a definite Egyptian style. It is an open question whether these pictorial devices should be considered as true writing.
The first phase of M.M. (c. twenty-second-twenty-first centuries B.C.) saw an elaboration of the early decorative devices and the transformation of the representational drawings into true pictograms. It was the beginning of a true system of writing. Short pictographic inscriptions were cut on hard three or four-sided seals. Building stones with linear masons'
