Script: Linear A Oldest Writing in Europe Found

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German Scientists: Europe's Oldest Script Found in Bulgaria

Lifestyle: 18 May 2005, Wednesday.

Ancient tablets found in South Bulgaria are written in the oldest European script found ever, German scientists say.

The tablets, unearthed near the Southern town of Kardzhali, are over 35-centuries old, and bear the ancient script of the Cretan (Minoan) civilization, according to scientists from the University of Heidelberg, who examined the foundings. This is the Cretan writing, also known as Linear A script, which dates back to XV-XIV century B.C.

The discovery proves the theory of the Bulgarian archaeologists that the script on the foundings is one of the oldest known to humankind, the archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov announced Wednesday.

Ovcharov, who is heading the archaeological expedition in the ancient Perperikon complex near Kardzhali, called the discovery "revolutionary". It throws a completely different light on Bulgaria's history, he said in an interview for the National Television.

Kardzhali is only 80 km north of the Aegean Coast; that a pre-Classical Minoan settlement or colony was established in the area is highly significant and may give us further clues to deciphering the hitherto unidentified script of Linear-A of Crete and East Cyprus. What language could it have been ? Did the pictographic script share any influences with other scripts experimented in and around the East Mediterranean and Mesoptamia ? With additional material to work on, the mystery has just gotten more exciting for code-breakers. :)