ArtFire

The focal bead on this necklace is a 3/4" copper lentil bead with a pattern of Linear A script on one side and Rongorongo on the other. It is hung on a strand of African beads and measures 16 3/8 " overall, including the hand forged copper s-clasp. The small natural clay beads are from Mali, the more colorful sandcast glass beads are from Ghana.

Linear A is the script for the unknown Minoan language, and dates from 1900-1800 BC. Arthur Evans, a British archaeologist, discovered clay tablets inscribed with two different scripts at Knossos in Crete in 1900. The other script, Linear B, which dates from approximately 1450 BC, was deciphered in 1952, and is known to have been used for an early form of Greek. The two scripts share some symbols, but using the corresponding sounds for Linear A does not produce any known language.

Examples of Rongo-rongo were discovered on Easter Island in the 19th century. Although oral tradition would date the early use of the script to as early as 300 AD, the oldest surviving examples seem to date from the 13th century or later. Since, with the exception of a few petroglyphs, all existing texts are inscribed on pieces of wood, attempts to date the texts have focused on dating the wood. Some examples have been found to be inscribed on wood from European oars, which would date them no earlier than the 18th century. By the 1870's however, it appeared that there was no one who could read the script, and except for part of one tablet which concerns a lunar calendar, attempts to decipher the script have been unsuccessful.

I-233

As I reached the pictures in the "New Scientist" article I knew I had stumbled on what I had been looking for. Bronze has a feeling of antiquity about it that seems suited to fragments of text, and I wanted to incorporate script into the pieces I was making, but in all the texts I was looking at the meaning had to be considered. Here were "Eight Scripts That Still Can't Be Read", and they were both enormously varied and visually intriguing. From the organic feel of Linear A to the impossible precision of Rongo-rongo, from the almost familiar pictures of Olmec, Proto-Elamite, and the Phaistos Disc to the abstract lines and squiggles of Meroitic, all were visually and intellectually engaging in a different way than known text could be. They say something, but they are more cultural artifact than simple text. Even if one turns out to be a warehouse inventory I won't be disappointed because their meaning goes beyond their translation. So here is my "Undeciphered Texts" collection.

copper, coated stainless steel beading wire, bronze, clay beads, glass beads