The Phaistos Disc
A clay disc from Crete is covered in 45 kinds of stamped symbols, spiralling to the centre, and no one can read them.
What was reported
On 3 July 1908, the Italian archaeologist Luigi Pernier found a fired clay disc about 16 cm across in the Minoan palace of Phaistos, in southern Crete. It dates from the second millennium BC.
Both sides carry 241 symbols arranged in a spiral, made with 45 different stamps pressed into the wet clay, like an early form of printing. They include heads with plumed headdresses, fish, birds, plants and shields.
Explanations offered
It's the only object of its kind ever found, so there isn't enough text to decipher it, and its language is unknown. It may be a prayer, a song or a list. A few scholars think it's a forgery, but most accept it as genuine. It's in the Heraklion Archaeological Museum.
- When
- 3 July 1908
- Where
- Phaistos, Crete, Greece
- Witnesses
- The archaeologist Luigi Pernier's team
- Status
- Unread
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