# The Phaistos Disc > A fired clay disc about 16 cm across, found in 1908 in the Minoan palace complex at Phaistos, Crete, carries 241 or 242 signs stamped in spirals on both… Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) Updated: 2026-10-27T17:48:00+00:00 --- **MYS** 0D1GG21P6M7V·Mystery · object # The Phaistos Disc **0** [Follow][Ask a question](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=phaistos-disc) The Phaistos Disc ![Photograph: The Phaistos Disc](https://mysteriesdept.com/media/folio/phaistos-disc-lead) Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0 Where found Phaistos, Crete, room 101 of the north-east complex⁠[[2]] Found 3 July 1908, Italian Archaeological Mission under Luigi Pernier⁠[[2]] Date About 1750 BC (Middle Minoan IIB to IIIA) by context and parallels⁠[[2]] Size About 16 cm in diameter, fired clay⁠[[1]] Text 242 sign impressions in 61 groups, from 45 distinct stamps⁠[[1]] Holder Heraklion Archaeological Museum⁠[[1]] Unicode Encoded as the Phaistos Disc block, U+101D0 to U+101FF (2008)⁠[[10]] Status Partly explained Questions 1 of 4 answered People [**Luigi Pernier** Excavator of Phaistos; found the disc](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/people/FIG0D1GG30Y7SAF/luigi-pernier)[**Yves Duhoux** Epigrapher; critic of decipherment claims](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/people/FIG0D1GG3RC0NWA/yves-duhoux)[**Brent Davis** Statistical comparison with Linear A](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/people/FIG0D1GG4804W0M/brent-davis)[**Jerome M. Eisenberg** Antiquities dealer and editor of Minerva; hoax claim](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/people/FIG0D1GG3GJ59GZ/jerome-m-eisenberg)[**Arthur Evans** Published the disc in Scripta Minoa](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/people/FIG0D1GG38R1B4Z/arthur-evans) All 6 people › [**Gareth Owens** Proposed a partial reading with John Coleman](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/people/FIG0D1GG40634NT/gareth-owens) Catalog key**MYS** 0D1GG21P6M7V The Phaistos Disc is a flat, roughly circular piece of fired clay about 16 cm across, inscribed on both faces with signs arranged in a spiral running from the rim inward. The signs were not drawn but stamped with individual punches, 45 of them, pressed into the wet clay; short incised lines divide the 242 impressions into 61 groups that are usually taken to be words⁠[[1]]⁠[[2]]. Many of the signs are pictorial: a plumed head, a walking man, a captive, a fish, a bee, a boat, a shield. It is the only text in this script, and its nearest relatives are a handful of signs on the bronze Arkalochori axe and a few impressed marks on Phaistos pottery⁠[[3]]⁠[[2]]. Luigi Pernier's Italian mission found the disc on 3 July 1908 in room 101 of the complex north-east of the palace, in a destruction deposit that had been disturbed in Hellenistic times, alongside a Linear A tablet. Pottery from the same fill is now dated to the start of Middle Minoan IIIA, around 1750 BC⁠[[2]]. Evans published photographs and a sign list in Scripta Minoa in 1909 and the disc has been in the Heraklion museum since⁠[[4]]⁠[[1]]. Two questions have dominated the century since. The first is what the text says. Proposals have read it as a Luwian letter, as early Greek, as a Minoan hymn pronounced with Linear A values, and as many other things; none reads all 61 groups consistently in a way others can check, and the text is far too short for internal statistics to pick a language⁠[[5]]⁠[[3]]⁠[[1]]⁠[[6]]. The second, raised sharply by Jerome Eisenberg in 2008, is whether the disc is genuine. The archaeological reply is that signs on the disc match impressed marks and a sealing from Phaistos excavated decades after 1908, which a forger could not have copied; the museum has not permitted a thermoluminescence test⁠[[7]]⁠[[8]]⁠[[9]]⁠[[2]]. Of the 4 questions on this site, 1 are answered. The most likely answer to “Is the Phaistos Disc a genuine Middle Minoan object?”, not yet confirmed: the disc is a Minoan object of about 1750 BC found where Pernier said he found it. ### Key questionsset by the editors [**Is the Phaistos Disc a genuine Middle Minoan object?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/questions/QST0D1GG5YP04VA/is-the-phaistos-disc-a-genuine-middle-minoan-object)Most likely: the disc is a Minoan object of about 1750 BC found where Pernier said he found it [**What language does the disc record?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/questions/QST0D1GG66G2R2Y/what-language-does-the-disc-record)Most likely: the disc records the Minoan language also written in Linear A [All 4 questions ](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=phaistos-disc) ## The object The disc is fired clay, slightly irregular in outline, about 16 cm across and about 1 to 2 cm thick. Each face carries a spiral of stamped signs read, by most scholars, from the rim toward the centre, following the way the sign groups are packed and the direction the figures face⁠[[3]]⁠[[4]]. Side A has 31 groups and side B 30, together 61; the impressions number 241 or 242 depending on whether an erased and restamped sign is counted⁠[[1]]⁠[[2]]. The 45 distinct signs were cut once each into hard punches and pressed repeatedly, which makes the disc the earliest known use of movable type; several impressions show the maker correcting a sign by smoothing the clay and restamping⁠[[4]]. Some groups end with an oblique stroke under the last sign, which has been read as a suffix marker, a punctuation mark or a word-class indicator; no account of it is agreed⁠[[3]]. The sign set was encoded in Unicode in 2008 as the Phaistos Disc block⁠[[10]]. [![First page of The Phaistos Disc](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/b06f8a04f3f7e33578f28aa0e88be600a13ebc6d03891a79c721558ca50c05e7/p1)356 pages](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/artifacts/ART0D1GGFQ64VQD/the-phaistos-disc) The Phaistos DiscArthur Evans, 1750. Public domain[Artifact ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/artifacts/ART0D1GGFQ64VQD/the-phaistos-disc) The find context is better documented than is often said. Giorgia Baldacci's 2021 review summarises Pernier's notes and Pietro Militello's re-examination of the deposit in 2013 and 2015: the disc lay in a destruction level of room 101, disturbed later, with pottery of the start of Middle Minoan IIIA, so around 1750 BC, with the last Protopalatial phase not excluded⁠[[2]]. The only close parallels for the signs are the Arkalochori axe, a bronze votive axe from a cave in central Crete bearing a short inscription in similar pictorial signs, and a small number of relief potmarks and a sealing from Phaistos⁠[[3]]⁠[[2]]. **Map of the area** [Open the full map](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/map) [Area][Region] [+][−] 1 **Phaistos** Minoan palace site Within 100 m 2 **Crete** Island A region 3 **Arkalochori cave** Sacred cave Within 100 m 4 **Heraklion Archaeological Museum** Museum Within 100 m MappedA regionNatural Earth ### Timeline **Timeline** Squeezed where little happened. Each mark is a published claim, by how it stands:AcceptedMost likelyStill possibleDisputedRuled out ## What is known The script is probably syllabic. Forty-five signs is too many for an alphabet and too few for a logographic system, and the word lengths, two to seven signs, fit a syllabary⁠[[1]]⁠[[3]]. Because the text is short, the true size of the sign inventory is unknown; estimates from the frequency distribution put the full "font" at around 60 signs, so some signs the language needed never appear on the disc⁠[[3]]. The direction of reading, rim to centre, is accepted by most but not all⁠[[3]]. [![The Arkalochori axe](https://mysteriesdept.com/media/folio/phaistos-disc-a-arkalochori-axe-m1)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/artifacts/ART0D1GGGEM4WPP/the-arkalochori-axe) The Arkalochori axeC messier. CC0[Artifact ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/artifacts/ART0D1GGGEM4WPP/the-arkalochori-axe) The best-supported claim about the language is Brent Davis's 2018 finding that the disc and Linear A treat shared sign shapes in a statistically similar way, which he takes to show that the disc records the Minoan language of Linear A⁠[[6]]. Yves Duhoux, reviewing the Greek decipherment attempts, reached the same view on different grounds: the find context, the Arkalochori parallel and the sign repertoire all point to Crete and to the Linear A world rather than abroad⁠[[3]]. If so, the disc is a second script for an undeciphered language, which adds little to the material but rules out readings in languages Linear A cannot be. ## What has been tested Decipherments. Duhoux's 2000 review set out the checks a reading must pass: it must use an accurate text, read in the right direction, choose a plausible script type, and not inflate the sign count to make room for a syllabary the disc does not show. Faucounau's proto-Ionian Greek reading failed these, with an estimated 88 to 95 signs against about 60, a misstated find context and internal inconsistencies⁠[[3]]. The Luwian reading of Achterberg and colleagues (2004), which makes the disc a letter to a king Nestor, depends on reading the signs as Luwian hieroglyphs of a much later period and has not been taken up by Anatolian specialists⁠[[5]]. Gareth Owens and John Coleman's reading, announced in 2014 and restated in 2018 as covering 99 per cent of the text, assigns Linear A and Linear B values to look-alike signs and reads the result as a hymn to a mother goddess; it rests on the assumption that the look-alikes share values and has not been published in a form others have confirmed⁠[[1]]. Authenticity. Eisenberg argued in Minerva in 2008 that the disc is a forgery planted by Pernier, perhaps with the restorer Émile Gilliéron, pointing to its uniqueness, its stamped rather than incised signs, and signs he saw as borrowed from Egyptian, Hittite and Lycian art of other periods; he and others called for a thermoluminescence test, which the Greek authorities have not allowed⁠[[7]]⁠[[11]]. Hnila's 2009 reply examined Pernier's record, the find circumstances and the signs, and found the evidence favoured authenticity, chiefly because sign 21 recurs on a sealing from Phaistos found in a secure context in 1955⁠[[8]]. La Rosa, from Pernier's excavation daybooks, argued that the timing and the people involved exclude a plant⁠[[9]]. Baldacci added that six disc signs have parallels in impressed fine ware from Phaistos excavated between 1950 and 1966⁠[[2]]. No physical dating of the clay has been done. ## The readings On the language, four positions are live: Minoan, the same language as Linear A, supported by the sign statistics and the context⁠[[6]]⁠[[3]]; Luwian or another Anatolian language, carried to Crete or written there, supported only by sign-shape comparisons⁠[[5]]; Greek, in various early forms, supported by selected readings and weighed against by the context⁠[[3]]; and something else or unknowable from one text. On the object, two: genuine, a Middle Minoan document with no surviving relatives except the Arkalochori axe and a few potmarks⁠[[8]]⁠[[2]]; or a modern forgery, which now requires that a forger in 1908 anticipated signs excavated at Phaistos between 1950 and 1966⁠[[7]]⁠[[2]]. The hoax hypothesis has lost ground but has not been closed by a physical test. ### Published claims **Published claims and their status** | Year | Who | Claimed | Status | Reason | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1909 | Arthur Evans⁠[4] | The disc is not Minoan work, since its signs, figures and ship differ from every Cretan script and design, and it came from outside Crete. | Disputed | Signs matching the disc's have since been excavated at Phaistos on a sealing and on local pottery, which favour a Cretan origin⁠[2]⁠[8] | | 1999 | Jean Faucounau⁠[12] | The disc is written in a proto-Ionian form of Greek, read from the centre outwards. | Disputed | The reading needs 88 to 95 signs where about 60 are expected, misstates the find context and is internally inconsistent⁠[3] | | 2000 | Yves Duhoux⁠[3] | No published decipherment of the disc meets the basic checks, and one 241-sign text may be too short to identify its language at all. | Accepted | No reading published since has passed the checks he set out or been accepted by specialists⁠[6] | | 2004 | Winfried Achterberg, Jan Best and colleagues⁠[5] | The disc is a letter in Luwian addressed to a king Nestor, readable through Luwian hieroglyphs. | Disputed | Its comparisons are with much later Anatolian signs, and neither Anatolian nor Aegean specialists have adopted it⁠[3] | | 2008 | Jerome Eisenberg⁠[7] | The disc is a forgery made around 1908 and planted at Phaistos by Pernier or with his knowledge. | Disputed | Sign 21 and other signs recur on material excavated at Phaistos after 1950, which no forger of 1908 could have known, though the thermoluminescence test he called for has not been allowed⁠[8]⁠[2]⁠[11] | | 2009 | Pavol Hnila⁠[8] | The evidence favours the disc's authenticity, above all because sign 21 recurs on a sealing excavated at Phaistos in 1955. | Accepted | Further sign parallels in Phaistian pottery and the re-examined excavation record point the same way⁠[2] | | 2009 | Vincenzo La Rosa⁠[9] | Pernier's excavation daybooks and the conduct of the 1908 season rule out a planted forgery. | Accepted | Later re-examination of Pernier's record agrees with it⁠[2] | | 2014 | Gareth Owens and John Coleman⁠[1] | Read with Linear A and B values for look-alike signs, the disc is a hymn to a Minoan mother goddess, about 99 per cent understood. | Disputed | It has been reported in the press but has no refereed edition that others have checked, and shared sign shapes need not share values⁠[1]⁠[6] | | 2018 | Brent Davis⁠[6] | The disc and Linear A treat their shared sign shapes alike, so both most likely record the same Minoan language. | Still possible | The method is sound, but the disc's 241 impressions make any statistical result fragile⁠[6] | | 2021 | Giorgia Baldacci⁠[2] | The disc is a genuine Phaistian object of about 1750 BC from a sealed deposit in room 101, with parallels in local potmarks and sealings. | Accepted | The pottery of the deposit dates it, and the sign parallels came from excavations decades after the find⁠[2]⁠[8] | ## What would settle it A thermoluminescence date on the fired clay would settle authenticity either way; the museum has declined to allow sampling⁠[[11]]. A second text in the same script, from a controlled excavation, would both confirm authenticity and double the material. On the language, the only realistic routes are a decipherment of Linear A, if Davis is right that the two share a language, or a longer disc-script text⁠[[6]]. Any new reading should be judged by Duhoux's checks and should publish its sign values and its treatment of all 61 groups so that others can test it⁠[[3]]. ## Questions 1 of 4 questions are answered. **Key questions** [All 4](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=phaistos-disc) **0** [Is the Phaistos Disc a genuine Middle Minoan object?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/questions/QST0D1GG5YP04VA/is-the-phaistos-disc-a-genuine-middle-minoan-object) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Most likely: the disc is a Minoan object of about 1750 BC found where Pernier said he found it **0** [What language does the disc record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/questions/QST0D1GG66G2R2Y/what-language-does-the-disc-record) 1 of 2 sub-questions answered·0 Most likely: the disc records the Minoan language also written in Linear A ## Evidence 19 findings [Is the Phaistos Disc a genuine Middle Minoan object?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/questions/QST0D1GG5YP04VA/is-the-phaistos-disc-a-genuine-middle-minoan-object)7 findings [The disc is a Minoan object of about 1750 BC found where Pernier said he found it.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/answers/ANS0D1GG6XY4CH1/the-disc-is-a-minoan-object-of-about-1750-bc-found-where)Most likely +[Sign 21 recurs on a sealing from Phaistos excavated in a secure context in 1955.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GG75R76PN/sign-21-recurs-on-a-sealing-from-phaistos-excavated-in-a)Supported +[Six disc signs have parallels in impressed fine ware from Phaistos excavated between 1950 and 1966.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GG7DJ7GT2/six-disc-signs-have-parallels-in-impressed-fine-ware-from)Supported +[Pernier's daybooks and the circumstances of the season are consistent with a genuine find.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GG7NC5EPZ/perniers-daybooks-and-the-circumstances-of-the-season-are)Suggestive +[The deposit in room 101 is dated by its pottery to the start of MM IIIA.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GG7X61H7S/the-deposit-in-room-101-is-dated-by-its-pottery-to-the-start)Supported [The disc was made in or shortly before 1908 and planted, by Pernier or with his knowledge.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/answers/ANS0D1GG8507JTW/the-disc-was-made-in-or-shortly-before-1908-and-planted-by)Disputed +[The disc is unique, its signs are stamped rather than incised, and some signs resemble motifs from other cultures and periods.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GG8CT3R8P/the-disc-is-unique-its-signs-are-stamped-rather-than-incised)Speculative +[The authorities have not permitted a thermoluminescence test, so the physical question is open.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GG8WE02ZR/the-authorities-have-not-permitted-a-thermoluminescence-test)Suggestive −[Signs 21 and others recur on Phaistian material excavated between 1950 and 1966, which a 1908 forger could not have known.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GG8MM5X4N/signs-21-and-others-recur-on-phaistian-material-excavated)Supported [What language does the disc record?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/questions/QST0D1GG66G2R2Y/what-language-does-the-disc-record)6 findings [The disc records the Minoan language also written in Linear A.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/answers/ANS0D1GG9C25B96/the-disc-records-the-minoan-language-also-written-in-linear)Most likely +[Davis's 2018 statistical comparison finds the two scripts treat shared shapes alike.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GG9KW78W9/daviss-2018-statistical-comparison-finds-the-two-scripts)Suggestive +[The find context, the Arkalochori axe parallel and the sign repertoire point to Crete and the Linear A world.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GG9VP05AD/the-find-context-the-arkalochori-axe-parallel-and-the-sign)Supported [The disc records Luwian or another Anatolian language.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/answers/ANS0D1GGA3G2QJE/the-disc-records-luwian-or-another-anatolian-language)Disputed +[The 2004 reading produces a continuous letter text.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GGABA6WKR/the-2004-reading-produces-a-continuous-letter-text)Speculative −[The comparanda are later Anatolian hieroglyphs and the reading has not been adopted by Anatolian specialists.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GGAK42SPN/the-comparanda-are-later-anatolian-hieroglyphs-and-the)Suggestive [The disc records an early form of Greek.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/answers/ANS0D1GGATY7NY4/the-disc-records-an-early-form-of-greek)Disputed −[Faucounau's reading required 88 to 95 signs against about 60, misstated the find context and was internally inconsistent.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GGB2R5FGY/faucounaus-reading-required-88-to-95-signs-against-about-60)Supported [The disc records a language that cannot be identified from one 241-sign text, whatever it is.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/answers/ANS0D1GGBAJ49JV/the-disc-records-a-language-that-cannot-be-identified-from)Most likely +[The text is too short for internal statistics to select a language, and the full sign inventory is unknown.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GGBJC3HAD/the-text-is-too-short-for-internal-statistics-to-select-a)Supported [Does any published reading of the disc hold up?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/questions/QST0D1GG6EA6Q23/does-any-published-reading-of-the-disc-hold-up)4 findings [The Owens–Coleman reading, which gives Linear A and B values to look-alike signs and reads a hymn to a mother…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/answers/ANS0D1GGC2067KJ/the-owenscoleman-reading-which-gives-linear-a-and-b-values)Disputed +[Shared sign shapes do behave alike in the disc and Linear A, which is consistent with but does not establish shared values.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GGCHM1PKT/shared-sign-shapes-do-behave-alike-in-the-disc-and-linear-a)Suggestive −[The reading has been reported in press and institutional news as covering 99 per cent of the text but has no refereed edition that others have confirmed.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GGC9T17N0/the-reading-has-been-reported-in-press-and-institutional)Suggestive [The Achterberg et al. Luwian reading is substantially correct.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/answers/ANS0D1GGCSE3R9G/the-achterberg-et-al-luwian-reading-is-substantially-correct)Disputed −[The reading has not been adopted by Anatolian or Aegean specialists.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GGD182Z4J/the-reading-has-not-been-adopted-by-anatolian-or-aegean)Suggestive [No published reading meets the basic checks.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/answers/ANS0D1GGD9275G4/no-published-reading-meets-the-basic-checks)Most likely +[Duhoux's review documents the failures of the Greek reading and states the criteria.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GGDGW0BV5/duhouxs-review-documents-the-failures-of-the-greek-reading)Supported [In which direction is the text read, and what is the oblique stroke?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/questions/QST0D1GG6P44D9R/in-which-direction-is-the-text-read-and-what-is-the-oblique)2 findings [The text reads from the rim to the centre, and the oblique stroke marks something about the final sign or…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/answers/ANS0D1GGE0G3VG2/the-text-reads-from-the-rim-to-the-centre-and-the-oblique)Most likely +[Most scholars read inward on the basis of packing and corrections.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GGE8A1F97/most-scholars-read-inward-on-the-basis-of-packing-and)Supported [The text reads from the centre outward.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/answers/ANS0D1GGEG403RN/the-text-reads-from-the-centre-outward)Disputed −[Readings adopting outward direction have not accounted for the packing evidence.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/evidence/EVD0D1GGEQY0PG5/readings-adopting-outward-direction-have-not-accounted-for)Suggestive ## Artifacts The films, photos, papers and objects this mystery rests on, each with its own key and its distance from the original. **Artifacts** [See all 13](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/artifacts) Photo1 step from object [The Phaistos Disc](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/artifacts/ART0D1GGFQ64VQD/the-phaistos-disc) Arthur Evans · Public domain Photo1 step from object [The Arkalochori axe](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/artifacts/ART0D1GGGEM4WPP/the-arkalochori-axe) C messier · CC0 Drawing2 steps from object [Sealing from Phaistos bearing disc sign 21 (CMS II.5 no. 246)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/artifacts/ART0D1GGGY8486J/sealing-from-phaistos-bearing-disc-sign-21-cms-ii-5-no-246) CMS Heidelberg, reproduced in Baldacci 2021 · publisher; confirm with CMS [See all 13 artifacts](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phaistos-disc/artifacts) ## See also [ **Linear A** The script of Minoan Crete, 1800 to 1450 BC, whose signs can be sounded but not read. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/linear-a) [ **Cascajal block and Isthmian writing** A serpentine slab from Veracruz with 62 incised signs, proposed as writing of 900 BC. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cascajal-block) [ **Nebra Sky Disc** A bronze disc inlaid with gold sun, moon and stars, dug up by looters in 1999. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/nebra-sky-disc) [ **Indus script** About 4,000 short inscriptions of the Indus civilisation, 2600 to 1900 BC, unread. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/indus-script) ## References 1. 1.[National Documentation Centre (EKT), G. 2018. The secrets of the Phaistos Disc. ekt.gr news.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D1GFZBR32RW/the-secrets-of-the-phaistos-disc)cited 7 times here**SRC** 0D1GFZBR32RW 1. 2.[Baldacci, G. 2021. The Phaistos Disk: An Enigmatic Artifact in its Cultural Context. The Ancient Near East Today (ASOR), vol. 9.11.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D1GFZ3Y0Q5E/the-phaistos-disk-an-enigmatic-artifact-in-its-cultural)cited 13 times here**SRC** 0D1GFZ3Y0Q5E 1. 3.[Duhoux, Y. 2000. How Not to Decipher the Phaistos Disc: A Review Article. American Journal of Archaeology.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D1GFZKJ0DQG/how-not-to-decipher-the-phaistos-disc-a-review-article)[doi](https://doi.org/10.2307/507232)cited 17 times here**SRC** 0D1GFZKJ0DQG 1. 4.[Evans, A. 1909. Scripta Minoa: The Written Documents of Minoan Crete, Volume I. Clarendon Press, Oxford.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D1GFYW45VW4/scripta-minoa-the-written-documents-of-minoan-crete-volume-i)cited 8 times here**SRC** 0D1GFYW45VW4 1. 5.[Achterberg, W., Best, J., Enzler, K. et al. 2004. The Phaistos Disc: A Luwian Letter to Nestor. Publications of the Henri Frankfort Foundation 13, Dutch Archaeological and Historical Society, Amsterdam.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D1GG036293G/the-phaistos-disc-a-luwian-letter-to-nestor)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1163/2214-448x_eagll_sim_00000510)cited 4 times here**SRC** 0D1GG036293G 1. 6.[Davis, B. 2018. The Phaistos Disk: A New Way of Viewing the Language Behind the Script. Oxford Journal of Archaeology.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQHJYJE4TNT/the-phaistos-disk-a-new-way-of-viewing-the-language-behind)[doi](https://doi.org/10.1111/ojoa.12151)cited 14 times here**SRC** 0CQHJYJE4TNT 1. 7.[Eisenberg, J. 2008. The Phaistos Disk: A One Hundred-Year-Old Hoax?. Minerva.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D1GG0JT7VVV/the-phaistos-disk-a-one-hundred-year-old-hoax)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0D1GG0JT7VVV 1. 8.[Hnila, P. 2009. Notes on the Authenticity of the Phaistos Disk. Anodos. Studies of the Ancient World 9.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D1GG12E2VVK/notes-on-the-authenticity-of-the-phaistos-disk)cited 5 times here**SRC** 0D1GG12E2VVK 1. 9.[La Rosa, V. 2009. Il disco di Festòs: un centenario autentico!. Creta Antica.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D1GG1A87CD3/il-disco-di-festos-un-centenario-autentico)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0D1GG1A87CD3 1. 10.[Unicode Consortium n.d.. Phaistos Disc, Range 101D0–101FF (The Unicode Standard code chart). unicode.org.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D1GG1J240PF/phaistos-disc-range-101d0101ff-the-unicode-standard-code)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0D1GG1J240PF 1. 11.[Eisenberg, J. 2008. The Phaistos Disk: A 100-Year-Old Hoax? Addenda, Corrigenda, and Comments. Minerva.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D1GG0TM3MEE/the-phaistos-disk-a-100-year-old-hoax-addenda-corrigenda-and)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0D1GG0TM3MEE 1. 12.[Faucounau, J. 1999. Le déchiffrement du disque de Phaistos: preuves et conséquences. L'Harmattan, Paris.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D1GFZVC52KE/le-dechiffrement-du-disque-de-phaistos-preuves-et)cited 3 times here**SRC** 0D1GFZVC52KE Last edited 27 Oct 2026