Riddle of the labyrinth : the deciphering of Linear B and the discovery of a lost civilisation / Margalit Fox.

By:

Fox, Margalit

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: London : Profile books, 2013.Description: 363 p. ; 24 cmContent type:

Media type:

Carrier type:

ISBN:

9781781251324 (pbk.)
9781847659705 (ebook)

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

487.1

Summary: In 1900 Sir Arthur Evans, the charismatic Victorian archaeologist, excavating the labyrinthine ruins of the ancient palace at Knossos came upon over 1,000 tablets covered in script. He knew he had found the records of the palace - if only he could decipher them. Margalit Fox shows how he and thousands of experts failed to do so, but that by the middle of the twentieth century progress had been made by two people working largely independently. Alice Kober was a withdrawn teacher who did painstaking research in her Brooklyn loft and kept her records on scraps of hymn-sheets filed in cigarette boxes. Michael Ventris was a dashing but imperfect architect and a languages prodigy. Their work led finally to the disentanglement of Linear B and opened a new window on the ancient world. Just how is a mesmerising archaeological detective story, brilliantly told in all its triumphant detail.

Holdings ( 1 )
Title notes ( 2 )

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Book - 7-day loan	CYA Library Main Collection	487.1 FOX (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		00000007291

Total holds: 0

Includes bibliographical references and index.

In 1900 Sir Arthur Evans, the charismatic Victorian archaeologist, excavating the labyrinthine ruins of the ancient palace at Knossos came upon over 1,000 tablets covered in script. He knew he had found the records of the palace - if only he could decipher them. Margalit Fox shows how he and thousands of experts failed to do so, but that by the middle of the twentieth century progress had been made by two people working largely independently. Alice Kober was a withdrawn teacher who did painstaking research in her Brooklyn loft and kept her records on scraps of hymn-sheets filed in cigarette boxes. Michael Ventris was a dashing but imperfect architect and a languages prodigy. Their work led finally to the disentanglement of Linear B and opened a new window on the ancient world. Just how is a mesmerising archaeological detective story, brilliantly told in all its triumphant detail.