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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 October 2013
Excavations at Knossos by the British School under the direction of Mr. M. S. F. Hood have during the past few years added some new fragments to the collection of Linear B tablets. But the more notable accessions are of material which was excavated by Sir Arthur Evans in 1900–4, but which had been mislaid, lost, stolen, or even given away. It has become increasingly clear that Evans regarded the smaller fragments as of no importance; he kept no record of about two-thirds of the fragments he recovered, and the published edition, completed by Sir John Myres, contains no more than a selection, though it includes all the largest and best-preserved tablets. It does not seem to have occurred to Evans that even the smallest fragment might help to restore an incomplete tablet; he and his assistants made a number of joins, but the task of searching for further joins has been made immeasurably more difficult by the failure to record the precise find-spot of each piece, and its subsequent dispersal. Progress, however, is still possible, as this article will show; and there doubtless remain many more joins which can be made when the complete material has been surveyed and analysed. This will perhaps excuse the space devoted here to publishing small scraps of no intrinsic interest or importance, but which may one day be a clue to further discoveries.
page 46 note 1 Scripta Minoa ii, Oxford, 1952.Google Scholar
page 46 note 2 A beginning has been made by Killen, J. T., in Bulletin of the London Institute of Classical Studies, ix (1962), 9 ff.Google Scholar
page 46 note 3 If any unpublished and unrecorded Linear B tablets from Knossos still remain in any Museum or private collection, the writer would appreciate information.
page 47 note 4 Inscriptiones Pyliae, p. 153.
page 51 note 5 Knossos Survey, No. 122. PM iv. 668 f. BSA x (1903–4) pp. 54 f. For the new excavations, see Archaeological Reports 1957, p. 21; 1958, p. 20; 1959–60, p. 23 f.
page 59 note 6 0483 had been shown by Bennett from photographs to join 0450, but since the original of 0450 is missing in Iraklion, the join cannot be actually verified. 0491 is more likely to be MSK 10 than the no. ‘0491’ found by Bennett in 1950 and glued to 0405. 0493 is unfortunately still lost. 0494 = 8101 = ‘1642’ of Scripta Minoa ii, p. 108. MSK 50 is more damaged at the top than the drawing of Scripta Minoa ii shows, but since there is no other tablet at Iraklion like it, the identification with 0495 is probable. On these delicate problems we are grateful for the help received from E. L. Bennett and J. Chadwick.
page 59 note 7 = 0497, according to Bennett. 0496 = 1641. 0498 = 1642 (bis). These numbers were assigned by Evans, but do not appear in SM ii.
page 59 note 8 0483, 0485–0492, 1573.
page 59 note 9 The numbers are 0483–5, 0487, 0490–7; cf. Minos, v:2, p. 207.
page 59 note 10 We should like here to thank warmly M. S. F. Hood, Director of the British School at Athens, and N. Platon, Ephor of Antiquities in Crete, who generously allowed us entry into the Stratigraphie Museum, as well as the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique for the financial assistance it was kind enough to give on the occasion of our journey to Greece.
page 59 note 11 Notably p. 40. On the difficulties encountered by Myres in defining the origin of these objects, cf. his letter to Bennett of 18 July 1949, quoted in Nestor, 128: ‘… the −04 series, which I suppose to be the product of the excavations of 1904; but this list has no title or rubric!’
page 59 note 12 On this question, cf. BSA vi, p. 34; x, pp. 26 ff.; Palace of Minos i, pp. 454 ff.
page 59 note 13 As well as 1643, Scripta Minoa ii, p. 108. 0493 and 0494, and perhaps 8100, equally came from the Little Palace; similarly 1605, 1594–7 according to Evans's handlist. On all these obscure points about the origin of the Knossos tablets it is to be hoped that Professor L. R. Palmer, who has undertaken the task of searching Evans's unpublished notebooks, may be able to give us the clarifications which the state of our knowledge makes especially desirable.
page 73 note 1 Knossos Survey, No. 120. BSA vi (1899–1900), pp. 70 f. For the recent excavations, see Archaeological Reports 1957, p. 22; 1958, pp. 18f.
page 73 note 2 The detailed study of the pottery from the excavations has not yet been undertaken.
page 74 note 3 I am much indebted to Professor M. Pope for help in writing these notes.