# Palaima 1989: Cypro-Minoan Scripts: Problems of Historical Context

> Thomas G. Palaima, 1989. 6 records on Mysteries Department cite it. Source for the methodological case against the published decipherments.

Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CWRBDDG37H9/cypro-minoan-scripts-problems-of-historical-context  
Publisher: Mysteries Department  
Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page)  

---

[Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Cypro-Minoan](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cypro-minoan)Palaima 1989

**0**

# Cypro-Minoan Scripts: Problems of Historical Context

Thomas G. Palaima, 1989. _Duhoux, Palaima and Bennet (eds), Problems in Decipherment. BCILL 49, Peeters, Louvain-la-Neuve, pp. 121 to 187_.

The classic statement of why Cypro-Minoan resists decipherment: few and short texts, unclear subdivisions, no bilingual, unknown language; concludes that all past and current decipherment schemes are improbable.

**Cypro-Minoan** Chapterdoi: **[10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e626450](https://doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e626450)** Checked against the original0

## What it's used for here

Source for the methodological case against the published decipherments.

## Cited by on this site 6 records

[No value is secure; shape similarity across scripts is not evidence of sound.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cypro-minoan/answers/ANS0CWRBVTE6T09/no-value-is-secure-shape-similarity-across-scripts-is-not)

Answer

ANS

[The language is unrelated to any known language, and the evidence cannot yet identify it.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cypro-minoan/answers/ANS0CWRBTKC4653/the-language-is-unrelated-to-any-known-language-and-the)

Answer

ANS

[All decipherment schemes up to 1989 were judged improbable, and none since has been accepted.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cypro-minoan/evidence/EVD0CWRBTV63NJN/all-decipherment-schemes-up-to-1989-were-judged-improbable)

Evidence

EVD

[Thomas G. Palaima](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cypro-minoan/people/FIG0CWRBM0E6JSN/thomas-g-palaima)

FIG

[Cypro-Minoan](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cypro-minoan)

The mystery article

MYS

[What language or languages does Cypro-Minoan write?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/cypro-minoan/questions/QST0CWRBPY653KZ/what-language-or-languages-does-cypro-minoan-write)

Question

QST

## Cite it

```
Palaima, T. G. (1989). Cypro-Minoan Scripts: Problems of Historical Context. Duhoux, Palaima and Bennet (eds), Problems in Decipherment. BCILL 49, Peeters, Louvain-la-Neuve, pp. 121 to 187. https://doi.org/10.1163/1574-9347_bnp_e626450
```

[Read it free at sites.utexas.edu](https://sites.utexas.edu/scripts/wp-content/uploads/sites/3428/2020/05/1989-TGP-CyproMinoanScriptsProblemsofHistoricalContext.pdf)

Key

**SRC** 0CWRBDDG37H9

Kind

Book chapter

Rights

The publisher's

Kept

27 Oct 2026, for editors

Checked

Against the published original

Added by

[apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo)

The record

Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS.

[CSL-JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CWRBDDG37H9/cypro-minoan-scripts-problems-of-historical-context/csl.json)