Clay Ball with Five Cypro-Minoan Signs (AM 2226)
Unknown · Late Cypriot period, circa 1600 to 1050 BC
Two centimetres across and bearing exactly five incised signs, this little clay ball is one of the most compact inscriptions in the museum. The characters belong to the earliest form of the Cypro-Minoan script, known to specialists as Cypro-Minoan one, and they were cut into the soft clay before it was fired. Compare it with its neighbour in the case: the balls are hand-modelled, slightly irregular, and each carries a different short sequence of signs, which is why the museum suggests they may record personal names.
The ball comes from Enkomi, near modern Famagusta, where French excavations directed by Claude Schaeffer uncovered a Late Bronze Age town rich in copper, ivory and foreign imports. It reached the Louvre through the division of finds after the excavation campaign of nineteen forty-nine. Enkomi's inhabitants adapted a script inherited from Minoan Crete to write their own language, and objects like this one show writing used for everyday, even playful purposes rather than for royal display. The five signs, whatever they say, were meant to be read by someone who held the ball in a closed hand.
Did You Know? Cypro-Minoan was adapted from the Linear A script of Minoan Crete, which is itself still undeciphered.
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