Undecipherable Minoan Linear A tablets, reduced to a muddy mess or mutilated

Undecipherable Minoan Linear A tablets, reduced to a muddy mess or mutilated:



Undecipherable Minoan Linear A tablets, reduced to a muddy mess or mutilated. Need I say more? A number of Mycenaean Linear B tablets were also reduced to a muddy slush just a few days after Sir Arthur Evans began excavating the Palace of Knossos in early 1900. They were exposed to rain, and rendered entirely useless. Sadly, they all had to be thrown away. 

Severely damaged Minoan Linear A tablet (joins) from Gournia

Severely damaged Minoan Linear A tablet (joins) from Gournia:



This Minoan Linear A tablet (fragment/joins) is even more severely damaged than many other Linear A fragments which are missing most of their text, or are partially illegible. The recurrence of (severely) damaged tablets and fragments is more widespread in Mycenaean Linear B, since there are far more extant tablets in that syllabary (close to 5,000). An example of a badly damaged Linear B tablet from Knossos follows: