The Kafkania pebble is a small rounded river pebble about long, with marks resembling
Linear B
Linear B is a syllabary, syllabic script that was used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest Attested language, attested form of the Greek language. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries, the earliest known examp ...
and a
double axe inscribed on it. It was found in Kafkania, some north of
Olympia, on 1 April 1994 in a 17th-century BC
archaeological context. If it were genuine, it would be the earliest writing on the Greek mainland, and by far the earliest document in Linear B. The Kafkania Pebble would also have had to exist two or more centuries before the earliest of the Linear B Documents. However, it is in all probability a modern
forgery
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally consists of the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific mens rea, intent to wikt:defraud#English, defraud. Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be fo ...
and a
hoax
A hoax (plural: hoaxes) is a widely publicised falsehood created to deceive its audience with false and often astonishing information, with the either malicious or humorous intent of causing shock and interest in as many people as possible.
S ...
.
Inscription
The pebble bears a short inscription of eight signs apparently from the
Linear B
Linear B is a syllabary, syllabic script that was used for writing in Mycenaean Greek, the earliest Attested language, attested form of the Greek language. The script predates the Greek alphabet by several centuries, the earliest known examp ...
syllabary, possibly reading '. The reverse side shows a
double-axe symbol. The inscription is identified by some to be in
Mycenean Greek
Mycenaean Greek is the earliest attested form of the Greek language. It was spoken on the Greek mainland and Crete in Mycenaean Greece (16th to 12th centuries BC). The language is preserved in inscriptions in Linear B, a script first attested ...
, but that identification remains disputed. It has been suggested that such an isolated example of Linear B script indicates, at best, an early stage of Mycenaean writing at the time of origin.
G. Owens suggests that the inscription is Minoan in origin rather than Mycenaean. Then, a
Minoan could have written the text for a
Mycenaean. No evidence exists that the Mycenaean Greeks wrote before the Linear B archive of Knossos.
Forgery
Several specialists in Mycenaean epigraphy have expressed serious doubts about the authenticity of the inscription; indications that it is a modern forgery include:
[ Thomas G. Palaima, "OL Zh 1: ''QVOVSQVE TANDEM?''" ''Minos'' 37-38 (2002-2003), p. 373-8]
full text
* Inscriptions on pebbles are otherwise unknown in Mycenaean and Minoan epigraphy.
* The "rays" surrounding the axe have no parallels in Mycenaean or Minoan iconography.
* Most of the symbols are "carefully executed" but one appears to be a "random graffito".
* Its context, imbedded in a wall, is peculiar and unprecedented.
* Linear B is otherwise consistently written left-to-right, but the inscription is apparently written in
boustrophedon
Boustrophedon () is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the l ...
.
* The
writing style
In literature, writing style is the manner of expressing thought in language characteristic of an individual, period, school, or nation. Thus, style is a term that may refer, at one and the same time, to singular aspects of an individual's writing ...
appears anachronistic.
* It is unlikely on historical grounds that Linear B writing then existed in the northwest Peloponnese.
* Finally, the pebble was apparently discovered on the morning of
April Fool's Day.
''Minos'': 2003, p. 489
''Meletemata: Studies in Aegean archaeology presented to Malcolm H. Wiener as he enters his 65th year, vol. 2'', 1999
''Polemos: Le contexte guerrier en Egée à l'âge du Bronze. Actes de la 7e Rencontre égéenne internationale, Université de Liège, 14-17 avril 1998'', 1999, p. 400
If it is indeed a forgery, the symbols spelling ''a-so-na'' may spell out the name ''Iasonas'', the first name of the son of Xeni Arapojanni and Jörg Rambach, the alleged discoverers of the pebble.
See also
* Psychro or Epioi inscription, a modern forgery involving characters resembling Linear A characters
References
Sources
*{{cite book , title=Kavkania: Die Ergebnisse der Ausgrabung von 1994 auf dem Hügel von Agrilitses , last=Arapojanni , first=Xeni , author2=Rambach, Jörg , author3=Godart, Louis , year=2002 , publisher=von Zabern , location=Mainz , isbn=3-8053-2934-2
External links
Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2005.01.20 - Panos Valavanis, Games and Sanctuaries in Ancient Greece
1994 archaeological discoveries
1994 hoaxes
Archaeological artifacts
Archaeological forgeries
Inscriptions of disputed origin
Mycenaean Greek inscriptions
Stone objects
Olympia, Greece
Linear B
1994 in Greece
Archaeological discoveries in the Peloponnese