On Decipherment of the Inscriptions of Linear A in the Common Kartvelian Language: Exploring Mathematical Materials
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55804/jtsu.15120473.2025.18.07Keywords:
Common Kartvelian language, algebraic equations, natural numbers, fractionsAbstract
The paper presents the ancient Kartvelian script of Crete, dated to the 19th–15th centuries BC. These inscriptions contain mathematical material. The majority of the linear signs of Class A (LA), the Mycenaean period Class B (LB) linear script, and the syllabic signs of Cypriot script (CS) are graphically and phonetically identical. The problem of the LA language remained unsolved for a long time, and it was declared that its reading was impossible because this language and its culture no longer existed. The phonetic values of the LA inscriptions were not identified, and the LA tablets were declared to have been written in an unknown, dead language. The LA inscriptions have been deciphered in the Common Kartvelian (CK) language. Some of the LA tablets, which contain agricultural accounting records, have been studied using mathematical methods. Notations for combinations of natural numbers and fractions are presented in these accounts. In the course of the research, “algebraic equations” have been identified, which reveal a highly sophisticated mathematical system. Particularly interesting are the LA summation terms: ku-ro “total” and po-to-ku-ro “grand total”, “final sum”. Their meanings have been established through the application of algebraic and graphical analysis methods.
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The authors retain all rights. The authors grant a publisher the exclusive right to publish the work for the first time, but they do not assign ownership.
