Editing Linear A (section)

{{Short description|Undeciphered writing system of ancient Crete}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2017}}
{{Infobox writing system
| name        = Linear A
| type        = Undeciphered
| caption     = Linear A inscription on a cup
| typedesc    = presumed [[logosyllabic]] ([[Syllabary|syllabic]] and [[ideographic]])
| languages   = '[[Minoan language|Minoan]]' (unknown)
| time        = [[Minoan chronology|MM IB to LM IIIA]]
1800–1450&nbsp;BC <ref>{{cite book |last1=Daniels |first1=Peter T. |last2=Bright |first2=William |title=The World's Writing Systems |title-link=The World's Writing Systems |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=Oxford |year=1996 |isbn=978-0-19-507993-7}}</ref>
| status      = Extinct
| sisters     = [[Cretan hieroglyphs]]
| children    = [[Linear B]], [[Cypro-Minoan syllabary]]{{sfn|Palaima|1997|pp=121–188}}
| sample      = Linear A cup.png
| imagesize   = 250px
| unicode     = {{cite web |title=U+10600–U+1077F |url=https://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U10600.pdf}}<br />
{{cite web |title=Final Accepted Script Proposal |url=https://www.unicode.org/L2/L2010/10422-n3973-lineara.pdf}}
| iso15924    = Lina
| note        = none
}}

{{ SpecialChars
| compact    = 
| special    = [[Linear A (Unicode block)|Linear&nbsp;A Unicode characters]]
| fix        = Help:Multilingual_support#Linear A
| characters = Linear A
}}

'''Linear A''' is a [[writing system]] that was used by the [[Minoans]] of [[Crete]] from 1800 BC to 1450&nbsp;BC. Linear&nbsp;A was the primary script used in [[Minoan palaces|palace]] and religious writings of the Minoan civilization. It evolved into [[Linear B]], which was used by the [[Mycenaean civilization|Mycenaeans]] to write an early form of [[Ancient Greek|Greek]]. It was discovered by the archaeologist Sir [[Arthur Evans]] in 1900. No texts in Linear A have yet been [[Undeciphered writing systems|deciphered]]. Evans named the script "Linear" because its characters consisted simply of lines inscribed in clay, in contrast to the more pictographic characters in [[Cretan hieroglyphs]] – likewise undeciphered – that were used during the same period.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robinson |first=Andrew |title=Writing and Script: A Very Short Introduction |url=http://minoanscript.nl/volume-i-part-i/ |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |year=2009 |isbn=978-9-40-215757-4 }}</ref>

Linear A belongs to a group of scripts that evolved independently of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian systems. During the second millennium BC, there were four major branches: Linear&nbsp;A, [[Linear B]], [[Cypro-Minoan]], and [[Cretan hieroglyphs|Cretan hieroglyphic]].<ref name="Packard-MLA-C1" /> In the 1950s, Linear B was deciphered and found to have an underlying language of [[Mycenaean Greek]]. Linear A shares many glyphs and alloglyphs with Linear&nbsp;B, and the syllabic glyphs are thought to notate similar syllabic values, but none of the proposed readings lead to a language that scholars can understand.