Arkalochori Axe

The bronze Arkalochori Axe is a second millennium BC Minoan

Minoan civilization

The Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization that arose on the island of Crete and flourished from approximately the 27th century BC to the 15th century BC. It was rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century through the work of the British archaeologist Arthur Evans...

 votive double axe excavated by Spyridon Marinatos

Spyridon Marinatos

Spyridon Nikolaou Marinatos was one of the premier Greek archaeologists of the 20th century.- Career :...

 in 1934 in the Arkalochori

Arkalochori

Arkalochori is a former municipality in the Heraklion peripheral unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Minoa Pediada, of which it is a municipal unit. It lies on the western edge of the Minoa Pediada plain, west of the Lasithi plateau, in...

 cave on Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

  which is believed to be part of a religious ritual. It is inscribed with fifteen symbols. It has been suggested that these might be Linear A

Linear A

Linear A is one of two scripts used in ancient Crete before Mycenaean Greek Linear B; Cretan hieroglyphs is the second script. In Minoan times, before the Mycenaean Greek dominion, Linear A was the official script for the palaces and religious activities, and hieroglyphs were mainly used on seals....

 but Professor Glanville Price agrees with Louis Godart

Louis Godart

Louis Godart is an Italian archaeologist of Belgian origins. He is a specialist in Mycenaean archaeology and philology and holds the chair of philology at the University of Naples Federico II...

 that "the characters on the axe are no more than a 'pseudo-inscription' engraved by an illiterate in uncomprehending imitation of authentic Linear A characters on other similar axes." The axe and the Phaistos Disc

Phaistos Disc

The Phaistos Disc is a disk of fired clay from the Minoan palace of Phaistos on the Greek island of Crete, possibly dating to the middle or late Minoan Bronze Age . It is about 15 cm in diameter and covered on both sides with a spiral of stamped symbols...

 are conserved in the Iraklion Archaeological Museum

Iraklion Archaeological Museum

The Heraklion Archaeological Museum is a museum located in Heraklion on Crete. It is one the great museums of Greece and the best in the world for Minoan art, as it contains the most notable and complete collection of artifacts of the Minoan civilization of Crete. The museum began in 1883 as a...

.

The Inscription

Of the fifteen signs, two appear to be unique. The suggestions for comparison with Linear A and Phaistos Disc glyphs are due to Torsten Timm (2004).

Reading right to left, top to bottom, the symbols are as follows.

№	Sign	Comment	Linear A	Phaistos Disc
01			A 304 KA ??
02			AB28 I	D39
03			AB01 DA
04				D02
05
06			AB05 TO ??
07		cf. 04		D02
08			AB80 MA
09			AB04 TE ?	D35
10		cf. 04		D02
11			AB31 SA ??	D19
12		cf. 08	AB80 MA
13			AB06 NA ??	D23
14		Root?
15			A338 ?