Archaeological mystery!

Archeological mystery:

Place Thoulos Bay, Eastern Crete

Look at the bay in Google Maps! 

Do you se the rectangular structure left an south from the bay? Size is abou 40 x 4 meters, it must be very big in order to show that clearly on the satellite map!

 

This enormous structure, 40 x 8 m stone set walls is clearly visible at the lower left side of the bay.

 

The structure seen from inside.

Details of bricks. Look closely at the bricks and the way the structure is put together.

 The bricks are unmistakably of roman type

The answer may be found in the geographical l position of the structure. The entire valley is full of olive trees!

If you se this in relation to the history of Crete it is not difficult to get an idea. Notice the island Psira to the north, the town Mochlos to the northwest, both within distance 10 km.Both places had substantial Minoan setlements in the Bronze Age.

Se locatin on Google Maps

I brought all the material to the arcaological museum in Agios Nikolaos.

Comments: There is no record that there is anything of arcaeological inerest in this area, consequently, the structure must be quite modern.

Είναι η μινωική χρυσή βελόνα στο αρχαιολογικό μουσείο του Αγίου Νικολάου αυθεντική;

 

Άγιος Νικόλαος, Κρήτη, Αρχαιολογικό μουσείο

 

Είναι η μινωική χρυσή βελόνα που δόθηκε από τον Jean Piere Olivier το 1981 στο αρχαιολογικό μουσείο του Αγίου Νικολάου αυθεντική;

 

Από τον Sven Buchholz

 

 

  «Γορίλα». CR Zf1. Epingle d’or. Μήκος 5 εκ.

 

Η πρώτη φορά που επισκέφτηκα το αρχαιολογικό μουσείο του Αγίου Νικολάου ήταν το 1993. Αυτό το μουσείο είναι σχετικά μικρό, αλλά τα ευρήματά του από τηΜινωική εποχή το καθιστούν ως ένα από τα μεγαλύτερα του κόσμου. Αυτό οφείλεται πιθανόν στο γεγονός ότι τα σημαντικότερα από τα ευρήματα του μινωικού πολιτισμού βρέθηκαν σε μία περιοχή εύρους περίπου 100 χλμ. Γύρω από τον Άγιο Νικόλαο. Το μουσείο της Σητείας, που βρίσκεται στον ίδιο νομό, το νομό Λασιθίου, διαθέτει επίσης μία αξιοσημείωτη συλλογή ευρημάτων από την ίδια χρονική περίοδο.

Το μουσείο εκθέτει μεγάλα αλλά και μικρότερα αντικείμενα από τη Μινωική περίοδο μέχρι και την Ελληνική, περίπου το 400 π.Χ.

Για να αφομοιώσει κανείς καλύτερα τα εκθέματα στο μουσείο πρέπει να βλέπει ένα μικρό τμήμα κάθε φορά μόνο.

Σήμερα, 19 χρόνια μετά την πρώτη μου επίσκεψη, οφείλω να παραδεχτώ ότι υπάρχει ένα αντικείμενο, ίσως το μικρότερο σε ολόκληρο το μουσείο, που μου αποσπούσε πάντα την προσοχή και συνεπώς το κοιτούσα με ενδιαφέρον κάθε φορά που επέστρεφα στην έκθεση του μουσείου.

Το αντικείμενο στην εικόνα είναι ένα κόσμημα, μία βελόνα από ατόφιο χρυσό. Στη μία της πλευρά είναι χαραγμένο ένα μοτίβο λουλουδιών, πολλά μικρά και μεγαλύτερα λουλούδια σε σπειροειδή διάταξη γύρω από ένα μίσχο. Κοιτώντας κανείς την εικόνα  πρέπει να έχει υπ’ όψη του ότι το χαραγμένο τμήμα της βελόνας έχει μήκος μόλις 5 εκατοστά! Μία από τις πρώτες απορίες μου ήταν πώς κατάφεραν οι Μινωίτες να κάνουν μία τόσο μικροσκοπική χάραξη χωρίς να διαθέτουν μεγεθυντικό φακό; Το δε πιο μυστηριώδες γεγονός σχετικά με τη βελόνα είναι ότι στην άλλη πλευρά της είναι χαραγμένοι 18 χαρακτήρες της μινωικής γραφής Γραμμικής Α που δεν έχει αποκρυπτογραφηθεί ακόμη! Για τη διευκόλυνση των επισκεπτών, ώστε να δουν με ακρίβεια τη βελόνα, έχει τοποθετηθεί σε αυτήν μεγεθυντικός φακός!

Για μένα η βελόνα αντιπροσωπεύει ένα τριπλό μυστήριο:

1. Τι σημαίνουν οι 18 χαρακτήρες της Γραμμικής γραφής      Α;
2. Πώς ήταν δυνατόν οι Μινωίτες να επιτύχουν αυτήν την      ποιότητα χάραξης;
3. Ποιος ήταν ο σκοπός, η χρησιμότητα αυτής της      βελόνας με τη χάραξή της;

Είμαι σίγουρος ότι πολλοί από τους επισκέπτες του μουσείου έχουν αναρωτηθεί για την έννοια της επιγραφής.

Η σπουδαιότητα ενός υψηλού πολιτισμού έγκειται καταρχήν και πρωτίστως στην ύπαρξη ενός συστήματος γραφής. Κατά τη διάρκεια των διαφόρων ανασκαφών στην Κρήτη ανακαλύφθηκαν 3 διαφορετικές  γραφές. Η Ιερογλυφική (στο Δίσκο της Φαιστού), η Γραμμική Α και η Γραμμική Β. Και η Γραμμική Α και η Β είναι συλλαβικά συστήματα γραφής. Η Γραμμική Β έχει αποκρυπτογραφηθεί από τους Michael Ventris and John Chadwick. Η αποκρυπτογράφηση της Γραμμικής Β ήταν εφικτή χάρη στο άφθονο διαθέσιμο υλικό υπό τη μορφή πινακίδων από άργιλο που βρέθηκε στην Κνωσό. Βρέθηκε επίσης, ότι η γλώσσα αυτή ήταν μία πρώιμη διάλεκτος των μυκηναϊκών ελληνικών, 500 χρόνια πριν τον Όμηρο!

Δυστυχώς λόγω της αμέλειας και της τρομερής απροσεξίας του κυρίου Arthur Evans,του οποίου ήταν οι ανασκαφές στην Κνωσό και η ανακάλυψη του μινωικού πολιτισμού, εκατοντάδες πινακίδες με Γραμμική γραφή Α καταστράφηκαν από τη βροχή αφού είχαν φυλαχθεί σε ένα μέρος χωρίς υπόστεγο! Αν τις είχαμε στη διάθεσή μας, ίσως και να είχαμε αποκρυπτογραφήσει τη Γραμμική γραφή Α μέχρι τώρα!

Δεν έχουμε πολλά έγγραφα από τη μινωική Γραμμική Α. Από  αιγυπτιακά έγγραφα βρέθηκε ότι οι Μινωίτες αγόραζαν πάπυρο από την Αίγυπτο. Παρατηρώντας τους χαρακτήρες της Γραμμικής Α γίνεται σαφές ότι είναι σχεδιασμένοι να γράφονται με κάποιο είδος πένας πάνω στον πάπυρο. Παρόλα αυτά το κλίμα της Κρήτης είναι πολύ υγρό για να έχει διατηρηθεί κάποιο κομμάτι παπύρου. Τα περισσότερα διατηρημένα κομμάτια είναι αυτά πάνω σε πλάκες αργίλου. Αυτό το υλικό χρησιμοποιούταν για πιο σημαντικά, πιθανότατα για επίσημα έγγραφα.

Δύο Γάλλοι γλωσσολόγοι, ο Louis Godart και ο Jean – Pierre Olivier από τη Γαλλική Σχολή της Αθήνας αφιέρωσαν μεγάλο κομμάτι της ζωής τους διερευνώντας τη Γραμμική Α. Οι δύο καθηγητές δεν προσπάθησαν ποτέ να αποκρυπτογραφήσουν τη γραφή. Αυτό που έκαναν ήταν να συστηματοποιήσουν και να ταξινομήσουν όλα τα διαθέσιμα ευρήματα.

Το 1975 δημοσίευσαν το έργο τους σε 5 πολύ μεγάλους τόμους. Ο Louis Godart, γνωστός ως χιουμορίστας και μεγάλος χωρατατζής, αποκαλούσε το έργο «ΓΟΡΙΛΑ»! Τους χαρακτήρες της Γραμμικής γραφής αποκαλούσε «ΚΟΜΙΚΣ» και τα κρητικά ιερογλυφικά «ΚΟΜΨΟΣ»!

Τα τεράστια αυτά βιβλία είναι πιο εντυπωσιακά με την πολύ καλά εκτελεσμένη συστηματοποίηση όλων των ευρημάτων μέχρι και το 1975.

Ξεφυλλίζοντας τα βιβλία η πρώτη εντύπωση που σχηματίζει κανείς είναι ότι πολλά από τα κείμενα δεν είναι αρκετά μεγάλα ώστε να μεταδώσουν κάποιο μήνυμα με νόημα. Για το λόγο αυτό φοβάμαι πως δε θα είναι δυνατό να αποκρυπτογραφηθεί η Γραμμική Α, λαμβάνοντας υπ’ όψη ότι και η γλώσσα είναι άγνωστη. Διατηρούμε πάντως την ελπίδα ότι μελλοντικά θα βρεθούν και άλλα κείμενα Γραμμικής γραφής Α. Το ελπίζω αυτό για τις ανασκαφές στο Ακρωτήρι της Σαντορίνης και το Παλαίκαστρο, όπου η Sandy McGillillvray από τη Βρετανική Σχολή της Αθήνας, με τη χρήση ραντάρ, βρήκε ενδείξεις για την ύπαρξη ενός ακόμη παλατιού.

Όσον αφορά τη χάραξη της βελόνας ο Evans δήλωσε ότι είναι αρκετά πιθανό οι Μινωίτες να είχαν μεγεθυντικούς φακούς από κρύσταλλο!

Ο σκοπός, η χρησιμότητα της βελόνας ήταν ενδεχομένως να δοθεί ως δώρο.

Το μεγαλύτερο μινωικό έγγραφο που βρέθηκε ποτέ είναι ο Δίσκος της Φαιστού. Έχει 242 ιερογλυφικούς χαρακτήρες. Ωστόσο μόλις 42 από αυτούς είναι διαφορετικοί μεταξύ τους. Ο δίσκος ανακαλύφθηκε το 1908 από τον Ιταλό αρχαιολόγο Louis Pernier σε συνδυασμό με τις ανασκαφές στη Φαιστό. Μερικοί από τους χαρακτήρες απαντώνται και στο τσεκούρι του Αρκαλοχωρίου. Το μπρούτζινο Τσεκούρι του Αρκαλοχωρίου είναι ένα διπλό μινωικό τσεκούρι της δεύτερης π.Χ. χιλιετίας που ανακαλύφθηκε κατά τις εκσκαφές του Σπυρίδωνος Μαρινάτου το 1934 στη σπηλιά του Αρκαλοχωρίου. Έχει μία επιγραφή 15 ιερογλυφικών χαρακτήρων. Πιθανολογείται ότι πρόκειται για Γραμμική γραφή Α, ‘όμως ο καθηγητής Glanville Price συμφωνεί με το Louis Godart στο ότι οι χαρακτήρες στο τσεκούρι δεν είναι τίποτα παραπάνω από μία «ψευδό – επιγραφή» που χαράχτηκε από έναν αγράμματο με μία ακατανόητη απομίμηση των αυθεντικών χαρακτήρων της Γραμμικής γραφής Α όπως απαντάται σε άλλα παρόμοια τσεκούρια.

Αν συγκεντρώσουμε όλα μαζί τα ιερογλυφικά καταλήγουμε με λιγότερους από 50 ιερογλυφικούς χαρακτήρες.

Κανένας δε θα μπορούσε να ισχυριστεί ότι τα ιερογλυφικά στο δίσκο ή το τσεκούρι ταιριάζουν σε ένα φωνητικό σύστημα όπως το ελληνικό ή το λατινικό αλφάβητο. Τα συστήματα που γνωρίζουμε αποτελούνται από 22 έως 35 χαρακτήρες. Η Γραμμική γραφή Β αποτελείται από 100 χαρακτήρες. Συμπεραίνουμε, λοιπόν, με απλά μαθηματικά ότι κανένα συλλαβικό σύστημα αποτελούμενο από μόλις 45 χαρακτήρες δε θα μπορούσε να μεταδώσει οποιοδήποτε νοήμον μήνυμα. Γνωρίζουμε δε ότι τα εικονογραφημένα συστήματα απαιτούν χιλιάδες χαρακτήρες, όπως τα κινέζικα και τα γιαπωνέζικα! Για το λόγο αυτό ήμουν πάντα καχύποπτος τόσο για το τσεκούρι όσο και για το δίσκο!

Η αλήθεια είναι πως τώρα, 19 ολόκληρα χρόνια μετά την πρώτη μου επίσκεψη η καχυποψία μου για τη Χρυσή Βελόνα «Γορίλα»CR Zf1 Epingle d’orέχει αυξηθεί.

Το CR Zf 1 δεν είναι το μόνο έγγραφο Γραμμικής Α χαραγμένο πάνω σε κόσμημα. Ο Evans ανακάλυψε ένα στην Κνωσό με 46 χαρακτήρες Γραμμικής Α, το «Γορίλα» KN Zf 13 σε χρυσό,  δεν υπάρχει, ωστόσο, καμία ομοιότητα ανάμεσα στα χαραγμένα μοτίβα αυτού του αντικειμένου και της «Γορίλα» CR Zf 1.

 

 

Gorilla KN Zf 31

  

«Γορίλα» KN Zf 13

Δαχτυλίδι σε χρυσό

 Έχω ψάξει σε όλα το διαθέσιμο υλικό από τη μινωική Ιστορία της τέχνης. Κάθε μινωική περίοδος διακρίνεται από τον τύπο των μοτίβων που βρίσκονται στα αγγεία, στον πηλό κ.τ.λ. Δεν κατάφερα να βρω την παραμικρή ομοιότητα μεταξύ της βελόνας και οποιασδήποτε μινωικής περιόδου στην Ιστορία της τέχνης!

Στη «Γορίλα» όλα τα αντικείμενα είναι ευκρινώς διακεκριμένα με βάση την τοποθεσία που βρέθηκε το κάθε ένα από αυτά. Η βελόνα CR Zf 1 είναι το μόνο αντικείμενο του οποίου η τοποθεσία ανακάλυψής του είναι παντελώς άγνωστη! Αυτό που γνωρίζουμε είναι ότι η βελόνα δόθηκε στο μουσείο από τον ένα εκ των δύο Γάλλων τον Jean Pierre Olivier το 1937. ισχυρίστηκε ότι την βρήκε σε μία αντικερί στις Βρυξέλλες! Μαζί με τη βελόνα το μουσείο έλαβε, επίσης, μία λεπτομερή αναφορά με λεπτομερή ανάλυση. Ένα ακόμη γεγονός που αυξάνει την υποψία μου είναι η διαφορά ανάμεσα στην μπροστινή και την πίσω πλευρά! Ενώ η πλευρά με τα λουλούδια έχει χαραχτεί με την υψηλότερη ποιότητα δεξιοτεχνίας, η πίσω πλευρά περιγράφεται ως το αντίθετο!  Φαίνεται αρκετά ερασιτεχνική! Η επιφάνειά της είναι πολύ αδρής και οι χαρακτήρες έχουν χαραχτεί πολύ βίαια.

Ακόμη και αν οι Μινωίτες είχαν μεγεθυντικούς φακούς δε βλέπω πως κατόρθωσαν μία τόσο σχεδόν μικροσκοπική χάραξη, πολύ μικρότερη από όλες τις υπόλοιπες που γνωρίζουμε πάνω σε μινωικά κοσμήματα! Αμφιβάλλω, επίσης, ότι ο μεγεθυντικός φακός από κρύσταλλο θα μπορούσε να δώσει μία αρκετά ξεκάθαρη εικόνα.

Μην έχοντας βρει κάποια ομοιότητα στα μοτίβα της μινωικής ή έστω της μυκηναϊκής Ιστορίας της τέχνης, επέκτεινα την περιοχή αναζήτησης, διανέμοντας εικόνες σε ολόκληρο το διεθνές δίκτυο ανθρώπων με γνώσεις στην Ιστορία της τέχνης. Δεν ανέφερα την πηγή προέλευσης του αντικειμένου, δηλαδή ότι βρισκόταν στην έκθεση ενός μουσείου ως μινωικό περιτέχνημα.

Η απάντηση ήρθε σχετικά γρήγορα και ήταν τόσο καλή όσο και ανώνυμη:

Το μοτίβο έχει ξεκάθαρα εμπνευστεί από ιταλικό σχέδιο περίπου του 1870 – 1890! Δεν συγκλονίστηκα· λίγο πολύ περίμενα κάτι προς αυτή την κατεύθυνση!  Σιγά σιγά έλαβα πιο λεπτομερείς πληροφορίες: η χάραξη έχει μεγάλη ομοιότητα με τα σχέδια λουλουδιών της σχολής της Φλωρεντίας  που χρονολογούνται περίπου το 1870 – 1890. Ο τρόπος, ωστόσο, με τον οποίο έχει χαραχτεί η βελόνα δεν είναι αρκετά συνώνυμος! Το αντικείμενο μάλλον έχει διαμορφωθεί σε καλούπι. Ίσως έχει κατασκευαστεί εν μέρει σταμπάροντας τα ολόιδια λουλούδια στο καλούπι! Αυτή η διαδικασία μεταθέτει τη χρονική άποψη στον 20^ο αιώνα! Μετά τον 1^ο Παγκόσμιο πόλεμο εμφανίστηκαν τα φθηνά κοσμήματα που παράγονταν μαζικά στην αγορά, γνωστή ως κοσμηματοπωλείο. Πολλά αρκετά γνωστά κοσμήματα και περιτεχνήματα αντιγράφηκαν και παράχθηκαν μαζικά. Μία από τις επαφές μου ανέφερε ότι το αντικείμενο είναι βοημικό, προέρχεται δηλαδή από τη σημερινή Δημοκρατία της Τσεχίας. Εκεί ειδικεύονταν το 1920 – 1930 στην κατασκευή αυτού ακριβώς του τύπου μαζικών κοσμημάτων, χρησιμοποιώντας ως πρότυπο όλα τα είδη των υπαρχόντων μοτίβων. Η παραγωγή αυτή εξακολουθεί να γίνεται ακόμη! Το αντικείμενο είναι πιο πιθανό να κατασκευάστηκε το 1925 – 1935.

Αυτά είναι τα σημεία της υποψίας μου:

1. Το αντικείμενο δεν έχει ομοιότητα με κανένα      διάκοσμο από ολόκληρη τη μινωική Ιστορία τέχνης
2. Η χάραξη είναι τόσο μικροσκοπική ώστε να έγινε 1600      χρόνια π.Χ.
3. Σε αντίθεση με όλα τα μινωικά αντικείμενα, η      τοποθεσία όπου βρέθηκε η βελόνα είναι άγνωστη
4. Το σχέδιο έχει μεγάλη ομοιότητα με τα Σχέδια      Λουλουδιών της Φλωρεντίας του 19^ου αιώνα
5. Η τεχνική παραγωγής είναι μάλλον μία από αυτές της      μαζικής παραγωγής, χρόνος 20^ος αιώνας, τοποθεσία Βοημία
6. Η βελόνα δόθηκε στο μουσείο του Αγίου Νικολάου μόλις      το 1981 από τον Olivier!      Η ιστορία λέει ότι η βελόνα βρέθηκε από τον ίδιο Olivier σε μία αντικερί στις Βρυξέλλες!      Αυτή η βελόνα είναι το μοναδικό αντικείμενο σε ολόκληρο το μουσείο για      το οποίο δεν έχουμε καμία πληροφορία για το που βρέθηκε! Είναι διόλου απίθανο      το μικρό αυτό αντικείμενο να «δραπέτευσε» από οποιαδήποτε γνωστή αρχαιολογική      ανασκαφή;
7. Μαζί με τη βελόνα υπήρχε μία εκτενής αναφορά με      όλες τις πιθανές επιστημονικές αναλύσεις γραμμένη από τον ίδιο τον Olivier. Επίσης, η      αναφορά που εκείνος έγραψε, η οποία είναι διαθέσιμη από το μουσείο του      Αγίου Νικολάου είναι πολύ ύποπτη! Είναι ακριβώς σαν εκείνη που εγώ θα      έκανα για να καλύψω ένα τέχνασμα σαν αυτό! Σε αυτό το διαδικτυακό σύνδεσμο      μπορείτε να διαβάσετε την πλήρη αναφορά …….
8. Το άλλο μινωικό χρυσό κόσμημα του «Γορίλα»,που      ανακαλύφθηκε στην Κνωσό από τον Evans είναι ένα ξεκάθαρο υπόδειγμα του «Γορίλα»CR Zf1 Epingle d’or.

Ο Jean Pierre Olivier ήταν γνωστός ως χιουμορίστας και μεγάλος χωρατατζής. Φυσικά ο Olivier γνώριζε ότι το μοτίβο απείχε πολύ σε ομοιότητα από οποιοδήποτε μινωικό διάκοσμο! Παρόλα αυτά, ένας έντιμος χωρατατζής μπορεί να αφήσει ένα ίχνος όπως το ιταλικό σχέδιο και η διαφορετικότητα μεταξύ της μπροστινής και της πίσω πλευράς!

Ακόμη κι αν η βελόνα είναι πλαστή, οι χαραγμένοι χαρακτήρες της Γραμμικής Α μπορεί να είναι αυθεντικοί.

Ο Olivier ίσως προσδοκούσε ότι το αίνιγμα της Γραμμικής θα λυνόταν αργά ή γρήγορα και η επιγραφή θα είχε αποκρυπτογραφηθεί.

Για κάποια χρονική περίοδο είχε πρόσβαση σε άφθονο υλικό, τις πλάκες αργίλου από την Κάτω Ζάκρο. Δεν είναι απίθανο κάποιο από αυτά τα κείμενα να «εξαφανιστεί» υπό τη μορφή πλάκας αργίλου και να «επανεμφανιστεί» στη χρυσή βελόνα!

Παρόλα αυτά, σε τι θέση βρισκόμαστε αν και ο δίσκος της Φαιστού και το Τσεκούρι του Αρκαλοχωρίου είναι πλαστά;

Για την απόδειξη του αντιθέτου είναι ευθύνη του μουσείου του Ηράκλειο. Αρνούνται να διεξάγουν την οποιαδήποτε εξέταση στα προαναφερόμενα αντικείμενα.

Μήπως για τους προφανείς λόγους;

Τι θα έλεγαν οι Νορβηγοί αν κάποιος ξαφνικά ισχυριζόταν ότι τα «Καράβια των Βίκινγκς», η νούμερο ένα νορβηγική υπερηφάνεια, κατασκευάστηκαν από ένα ντόπιο ξυλουργό;

Αν ήμουν ψυχολόγος, πιθανόν να είχα αρχίσει να εμβαθύνω στην έρευνα των κινήτρων που οδηγούν καθιερωμένους επιστήμονες στην επινόηση τεχνασμάτων αυτής της φύσης.

Σύνδεσμος για την πλήρη αναφορά στα γαλλικά:

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bch_0007-4217_1981_num_105_1_1928

Η αναφορά του Olivier σελίδα 1

Μία άλλη σελίδα της αναφοράς του Olivier  όπου φαίνεται η βελόνα από όλες τις πλευρές

 Η δουλειά του αρχαιολόγου είναι μία από τις πιο μοναχικές που μπορώ να σκεφτώ. Καταρχήν η εκσκαφή γίνεται με πολύ μικρά εργαλεία, ακόμη και βούρτσες, για μέρες μέχρι και χρόνια χωρίς καμία εγγύηση ότι θα βρεθεί κάτι! Αν και όταν βρει κάτι ο αρχαιολόγος ίσως χρειαστεί περισσότερο χρόνο να το εντάξει σε ένα λεπτομερές σύστημα σε μορφή αναφοράς. Καταλήγει κανείς με ένα από τα πολλά βιβλία σε ένα ράφι. Μόνο εξειδικευμένοι συνάδελφοι θα μπορέσουν ποτέ να βρουν  περί τίνος πρόκειται! Πολλοί αρχαιολόγοι πρέπει να έχουν ένα κρυφό όνειρο αναγνώρισης και δόξας. Κάποιοι από αυτούς, οι νεότεροι, ίσως το χρειάζονται για να προχωρήσουν παρακάτω. Άλλοι ίσως έχουν απογοητευτεί έχοντας βρει λίγα ή και τίποτα, βλέποντας ωστόσο συναδέλφους τους να επιτυγχάνουν την ανακάλυψη όλων των εποχών, μερικά μόλις χιλιόμετρα. από τη δική τους περιοχή εργασιών! Τι πιο φυσικό, λοιπόν, τότε για εκείνον με την περισσότερη δεξιοτεχνία και δημιουργική φαντασία από το να επιταχύνει την εξέλιξη των γεγονότων!

 Ο Jean Pierre Olivier δεν ανήκει σε αυτήν την κατηγορία! Έκανε σπουδαία δουλειά· το ήξερε κι έγινε αρκετά διάσημος. Ο Olivier ήταν, πάντως, και ένας μεγάλος χιουμορίστας και χωρατατζής. Άφησε ένα ξεκάθαρο στοιχείο! Ωστόσο, θα χρειαζόταν περισσότερο από 70 χρόνια για όσους δε βρίσκονταν στο χώρο αυτό να το ανακαλύψουν!

Όπως έχω ήδη πει, είμαι πεπεισμένος ότι οι «εκ των έσω» γνώριζαν πάντα!

Sven Buchholz

Agios Nikolaos

araenil@yahoo.no

Agios Nikolaos, Crete , Archaeological Museum Golden Needle with Minoan Linear A

Agios Nikolaos, Crete , Archaeological Museum

Is the Minoan Golden Needle  given by Jean Piere Olivier in 1981 genuine?

By Sven Buchholz

Gorilla. CR Zf 1. Epingle d΄or. Measure 5 cm !

 

I first came to visit the archaeological museum of Agios Nikolaos in 1993. This archaeological Museum is relatively small, but with regard to findings from the Minoan epoch it is amongst the biggest in the world. This is probably because the most interesting Minoan findings were made within a 100 km range from Agios Nikolaos. The Museum of Sitia, also in the same province Lasithi, has also got a substantial collection from the same period.The museum is exhibiting big and small objects from the early Minoan period and up to the Hellenic  around 400 BC.

In order to absorb all you can see in the museum it is necessary to take a small section only at atime . Today, 19 years after my first visit, I must admit that there is one, probably the smallest object of the entire museum that has caught most of my attention. Consequently I must admit that I had to look at it every time I visited the collection.

The object on the picture is a piece of jewellery, a needle made of pure gold. On one side there is an engraved a floral motif, many small and larger flowers alongside a spiral stalk. Looking at the picture one must have in mind that the engraved part of the needle is only 5cm long! One of my first questions was how it could be possible for the Minoans to make such microscopic engravings without having access to magnifying glasses? The most mysterious about the needle is that on the reverse side there are engraved 18 characters of the hitherto undeciphered Minoan writing LINEAR A! In order to help the visitors of the museum to see the needle accurately, it is mounted with a magnifying glass!

To me the needle represents a triple mystery:

1. What was the meaning of the 18 characters of Linear A?

2. How was it possible for the Minoans to produce this quality of engraving?

3. What was the purpose, the function of this needle with its engraving?

I am sure that many of the visitors in the museum have wondered about the meaning of the inscription.

The significance of a high culture is first and foremost the existence of a writing system. During the various excavations in Crete there were found 3 different systems: The hieroglyphic (The Phaistos Disc), the Linear A and the Linear B. The Linear A and B are both syllable systems. Linear B has been deciphered by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick. It was possible to decipher Linear B because there was a lot of available material in form of clay tablets to be found in Knossos. It was also found that the language was an early dialect of Mycenaean Greek, 500 years before Homer.

Unfortunately, due to negligence and carelessness by Sir Arthur Evans, the excavator of Knossos and the inventor of the Minoan civilisation, hundreds of Linear A tablets were destroyed by rain since he left them in a shelter at Knossos without a roof! Had we only had these to our disposal, we might have deciphered Linear A by now!

We have not got many documents of Minoan Linear A. From Egyptian harbour documents it has been established that the Minoans bought papyrus in Egypt. Looking at the Linear A sign it becomes clear that the signs are designed to be written with a sort of pen on papyrus. The Cretan climate is however too humid for any piece of papyrus to have survived. Most of the pieces that have survived are to be found on clay tablets. This material was used for more serious, probably official documents.

Two French linguists, Louis Godart, and Jean-Pierre Olivier from the French School of Athens spent a great deal of their life in researching the Linear A. The two professors never tried to decipher the writing, what they did was to systemize and classify all the available findings.

In 1975 they issued their work in 5 very big volumes. Jean-Pierre Olivier, who was well known as a humorist and a great practical joker, called the work for GORILLA! The Linear signs he called COMICS and the Cretan hieroglyphs he called CHICK!

These enormous books are most impressive with the very well executed systematisation of all findings made up till 1975.

If you take the time to go through the books, the first impression you get is that there are not many of the texts that are long enough to convey a meaningful message. For this reason I am afraid it will not be possible to decipher the Linear A, taking in consideration that the language is unknown. Hopefully we will in some future find more Linear A texts. I have hope for the excavations in Akrotiri at Santorini and in Palaikastro where Sandy Mac Gillivray from the British School of Athens, by the use of radar scanning has found evidence of yet another palace.

Concerning the engraving Evans has stated that it is quite possible that the Minoans had magnifying glasses made of crystal!

The only rational purpose I can guess, for the needle is to be given as a gift.

That is probably also the content of the inscription!

The biggest Minoan document that was ever found is the Phaistos Disc. It has 242 hieroglyphic characters. There are however only 42 of them that are different.  The disc was found in 1908 by the Italian archaeologist Louis Pernier in connection with the excavations of Phaistos.

https://araenil.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/is-the-phaistos-disc-genuine/

Some of the signs have also been found on the Arkalochori Axe. The bronze Arkalochori Axe is a second millennium BC Minoan votive double axe excavated by Spyridon Marinatos in1934 in the Arkalochori cave. It is inscribed with fifteen hieroglyphic signs. It has been suggested that these might be Linear A but Professor Glanville Price agrees with Louis Godart that «the characters on the axe are no more than a ‘pseudo-inscription’ engraved by an illiterate in uncomprehending imitation of authentic Linear A characters on other similar axes».

If we put all the hieroglyphs together we end up with less that 50 hieroglyphic signs. Nobody could possibly claim that the hieroglyphs on the disk or the axe fit into a phonetic system such as the Greek or the Latin alphabet. The systems we know need only 22 to 35 characters. Linear B has little more than 100 characters. It is therefore simple arithmetic to conclude that no syllable system consisting of only 45 characters would be able to convey any intelligent message. For idiomatic pictogram systems we all know it takes thousands of characters, ref. Chinese and Japanese! For this reason I have always been sceptical to both the axe and the disk!

The truth is however that now, 19 years after my first visit to the Museum, my scepticism concerning the Golden Needle Gorilla. CR Zf 1. Epingle d΄or has increased.

The CR Zf 1 is not the only Linear A document that is engraved on a piece of metal jewellery. Evans found one in Knossos with 46 Linear A signs. Gorilla KN Zf 31 , engraved on silver «Epingle d’ Argent«, and KN Zf 13 on gold.  There is however no resemblance between the engraved motifs on these 2 objects and Gorilla. CR Zf 1.

 Gorilla KN Zf 31

Gorilla KN Zf 13

Ring in gold.

I have looked through all available material on Minoan art history. Each Minoan period is distinctly noticed by the type of motifs to be found on pottery, terracotta etc. I have not been able to find even a remote likeness between the needle and any Minoan period in art history.

In “Gorilla” all objects are clearly defined by the place each single object was found. The needle CR Zf 1 is the only object where the place it was found is totally unknown! What we know is that the CR Zf 1 was given to the museum by one of the two Frenchmen Jean Pierre Olivier in 1937. He claimed he had found it on an antique market in Brussels! With the needle, the Museum also got a detailed report with detailed analyses. Another point that increases my suspicion is the difference between the front and the back side! Whilst the side with the flowers is engraved with the highest calibre of craftsmanship, the back can almost be described as the opposite! It looks rather amateurish! The surface is very rough and the signs have been engraved very roughly.

Even if the Minoans had magnifying glasses I can hardly see how they could have managed this almost microscopic engraving, much smaller than on all the other known Minoan pieces of jewellery! I also doubt that magnifying glass made of crystal could have been able to give a clear enough image.

Having found no resemblance of the motive in Minoan or even Mycenaean art history I extended my area of search, distributing pictures to my entire international network of people with knowledge of art history. I did not tell the origin of the object, i.e. that it was exhibited in a museum as a Minoan artefact.

The answer came relatively quick from some of the sources, and they were as good as identical:

The motive is clearly inspired by Italian design from around 1870 – 1890!

I did not get a shock; I more or less expected something in that direction! Little by little I received more detailed information:  The engraving has great resemblance with the school of Florentine floral design made around 1870 / 90. The style with whichthe needle is engraved is however not quite synonymous! The object may have been moulded in a cast. The cast may well have been made partly by stamping the identical flowers into the mould! This procedure moves the time aspect into the 20th century! After World War I the cheap mass produced jewellery came on the market, known as bijouterie. Many well known jewelleries and artefacts were copied and mass produced in exactly this way. One of my contacts mentioned the object as being Bohemian, that means it comes from today’s Czech Republic!   They specialized in the 1920 – 30 in making exactly this type of mass produced jewellery, using all sorts of existing motives as models. The production is still going on! The object is most likely to have been produced 1925 – 1935. Olivier has probably made a copy in pure gold. He remooved the one side and added the Linear A signs. Not a very good job if I may say so!

 These are my points of suspicion:

1. 1. The object has no resemblance with any decoration of the entire Minoan art history.
   2. The engraving is too microscopic to have been done 1600 years BC.
   3. Contrary to all other Minoan objects, the place where the needle was found is unknown.
   4. The pattern has a strong resemblance with Florentine floral design from the 19 century.
   5. The production technique is likely to be one of mass production, time 20 century, place Bohemia.
   6. The needle was given to the AgiosNikolaosMuseum by Olivier as late as 1982! Where was the needle found, when? The story tells that the needle was “found” by the same Olivier on a Brusselsantique market!”This needle is the only object in the entire museum that we do not have any information about where it was found! Is it at all likely that this small object cold have escaped from any known archaeological excavation? Where was the needle kept all the time until Olivier found it?
   7. With the needle there was an extensive report, written on 27 pages with all possible scientific analyses made by Olivier himself. Also the report he produced, obtainable from the Agios Nikolaos Archaeological Museumis highly suspicious! It is exactly like the one someone would have made in order to cover! up for a stunt like this?

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bch_0007-4217_1981_num_105_1_1928

Oliviers report page 1.

Another page of Olivier’s 27  pages report showing shape of needle from all sides. 

The other piece of Minoan metal  jewellery Gorilla CR Zf 13 and CR Zf 31, found by Evans at Knossos is an obvious model for Gorilla CR Zf 1. Epingle d΄or !

Jean Pierre Olivier was well known as a humorist and a practical joker. Of course Olivier knew that the motif was very far from resembling any Minoan decoration! However, an honest practical joker may well leave a clue, such as the Italian design and the difference between front and back!

Even if the needle maybe a fake, the engraved Minoan signs in Linear A may well be authentic. Olivier may well have anticipated that the Linear A enigma sooner or later may be solved and the script encrypted. He had for a certain period access to a lot of material, such as the clay tablets from Kato Zachros and others. It is not unlikely that one of these texts could have “disappeared” in form of a clay tablet for then to “reappear” on the golden needle!

However, where do we stand if also the Phaistos Disk and the Arkalochori Axe are faked?

To prove the opposite is up to the museum of Heraklion. They refuse to carry out any tests on the mentioned objects. Maybe for obvious reasons?

What would the Norwegians say if somebody suddenly claimed that the “Viking – Ships”, the Norwegians national pride number 1, were produced by a local carpenter?

I doubt that I am the only one who has made these observations, but others who might have come to the same conclusion may well be excluded from the opportunity of being able to publish their findings!

If I had been a psychologist, I might well have started to dig into the motivation that could bring established scientists to carry out stunts of this nature. I am not, but I will do my best.

To be an archaeologist is one of the loneliest jobs I can think of. First you excavate carefully with very small tools, even brushes days and years without any guarantee that you will find something at all! If and when you find something you spend maybe more time to put it into a detailed system in form of a report. You end up with one of many books on a shelf. Only skilled colleagues will ever be able to find out what it is all about! Many archaeologists must have a secret dream of acknowledgment and fame. Some of them, the younger ones may need it in order to get further. Other may have gotten frustrated to have found little or nothing and to observe colleagues making the find of all times just a few km away from his workplace! What is then more natural for the one with a little more skill and creative fantasy than to help speeding up the development!

Jean Pierre Olivier does not belong in this category! He did a great job; he knew it and he became quite famous. Olivier was however also a great humorist and a true practical joker. He left a clear clue! However it should take more than 30 years for some outsider to find out!

As I already have said, I am convinced that the ”insiders” have always known!

Prehistoric connections Crete / Norway . English version.

For category index use this link:

http://no.wordpress.com/tag/minoan-history-and-culture/

NEW!!!

SEE UPDATE 2012 AT THE END!

Did Crete have prehistoric connections with Norway in the Bronze Age? 

A Minoan message on a granite slab in Norway.

 Johan Jarnaes, a citizen of the small Norwegian town of Kongsberg, is the one making this assertion. Kongsberg is situated 80 km to the west of the Norwegian capital of Oslo. Johan Jarnaes holds university degrees in history, archaeology and languages. On a late evening in autumn 1987 Johan was out for a walk in the outlying fields surrounding the small town of Kongsberg. Due to the low sunlight he discovered some strange, unknown, signs on a flat granite slab. The slab was part of a farmyard belonging to a friend of his. Johan had been on the spot many times, but neither he nor his friend, the owner, had seen these signs before. The signs were revealed only because Johan happened to pass there just at the moment the sun was setting, thus throwing a beam of light onto the slab.

PICTURE 1. Johan Jarnæs and the author on the granite slab.

 After the slab had been cleaned, some engraved characters became visible.

PICTURE 2 and 3. The 5 characters.

Jarnaes found the characters sensational since they reminded him at first sight of characters from the classical Greek alphabet. Furthermore he discovered 12 circular cup shaped marks with a diameter of 4 to 8 cm as well as a drawing that apparently was an illustration of a boat! There were also other engravings on the granite slab. The engraving techniques indicated that they had originated in various different eras. In addition to the previously mentioned characters, signs and drawings, Johan discovered an even more peculiar one which had no resemblance to any of the others. The lower part Johan later recognised as a “bag for water or wine”. The strangest was, however, that on the outside of the “bag” a horizontal parallel wavelike drawing was visible. Jarnaes came to the conclusion that the wavelike drawing was apparently meant to describe water! On the top of the bag there was an even stranger sign that reminded him of the letter V in the Latin alphabet. The most mysterious in this whole figure was that the three parallel wavelike lines were identical with the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphic sign for water!

 PICTURE 5,”The Wine Bag”

Picture 7. The boat. 

The boat was, for Jarnaes, a familiar drawing on many granite slabs in south-western Norway as well as in the Swedish county of “Bohuslan”. The carving technique was very similar to the above mentioned engravings from Kongsberg. Consequently Jarnaes could determine the time period to be the bronze age,  1500 – 2000 BC.

The enigma.

 Jarnaes was most surprised. What could these inscriptions possibly mean? They reminded him of characters in the ancient Greek alphabet, but there were also clear indications that the characters were almost a 1000 years older. The origin of the Greek alphabet can be determined with great accuracy to 750 BC.

 What happened at Kongsberg before 1623?

 The town was founded in 1623 because a shepherd found a large lump of silver. The silver mining led to the rapid growth of Kongsberg which soon became a town of 10,000 inhabitants. By 1958 the silver load had been exhausted and mining was discontinued. In accordance with “the official opinion”, the town of Kongsberg had had no history before 1623. This opinion was, however, not shared by Jarnaes and hisfriends in the “Kongsberg Archaeological Society”. For more than 30 years the society has carried out its own research in order to establish the fact that the town did have a history before 1623. Amongst Jarnaes’ friends were experts in many fields, such as languages, history, archaeology, geology, and astronomy. Jarnaes has summarised the results of this research in a book.

 “Before Kongsberg was founded”

 This book is very interesting to read. A lot of findings were made, not only from the Bronze Age, but also from earlier periods. The most sensational were the numerous discoveries that showed clear indications of prehistoric mining! It is likely that the silver mines of Kongsberg were amongst the richest inEurope! In addition to that, the silver from Kongsberg is almost 100% pure! The common way to produce silver in the Bronze Age, as it is today, is by smelting ores containing lead and silver, a most costly procedure. The silver produced in this manner will contain a certain amount of lead that gives it a grey colour in contrast to the Kongsberg silver that is bright and shining. Another sensational finding was stone settings carefully positioned in accordance with an astronomical or mathematical pattern! In one case the settings constituted a solar calendar. It is absolutely clear that the population of Norwayat that time was rather primitive and could not possibly have had such skills. This knowledge is characteristic of an advanced culture! From where could the knowledge have come?

 Linear A characters of the writing system belonging to the Minoan civilisation of Crete!

Jarnaes’ idea that the characters could belong to the classical Greek alphabet could not be correct because they were all consonants, whilst the Greek language was particularly rich in vowels. The findings on the granite slab at the farm
“Langkjern” were made in 1987. The enigma remained unsolved until the Norwegian linguist; Kjell Aartun came to Kongsberg in 1994. He is internationally well known in scientific linguistic circles. Amongst others, Kjell Aartun has received a prize from “The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters” for his research on ancient languages of the Mediterranean and theMiddle East. Aartun determined that the characters belonged to the Minoan writing system Linear A, fromCrete.

The first words ever written in Norway, in Artun’s interpretation, were  “The pure and the soft”. Concerning the other strange images, Aartun determined that the two were of the same hieroglyphic signs that were found on the Phaistos Disc;  “The Wine Bag” and “Coral”.  Those who have bought the disc as a souvenir will easily be able to recognize them. In accordance with Aartun’s deciphering, the two signs mean: “The place for visitors” that is, a ritual place to be used by visitors. For Jarnaes one more enigma needed to be solved: The wave-shaped lines on the bag, resembling the Egyptian hieroglyphs. The Minoans had very close trade connection with Egyptand it is most likely that they knew the Egyptian language and writing. The hieroglyphs read: WATER and, in the southern countries of the Mediterranean, water was regarded as the most precious gift. Even if the Minoans did not habitually make petroglyphs, stone carvings, such as the Scandinavians used on their numerous cult sites, were not unknown to them. It is believed that the Scandinavian “Helleristninger” petroglyphs were made in order to call on the favour of the gods.

 “The pure and the soft”

Who could have written these words on a granite slab at Kongsberg 2000 years before the Norwegians knew the art of writing? The Minoans? If so, what were they doing in Norway, and what did the words mean. In Jarnaes’ opinion both of Aartun’s translations could have a clear meaning.  In the Bronze Age, the Minoans were the most skilled tradesmen in the Mediterranean area. They were trading with all countries including the ones in the Middle East. One of their specialties was trading in metals; bronze, gold, silver, lead etc.  We have information from Egyptian hieroglyphs that the Egyptians, who possessed gold in great quantities, were willing to pay twice the weight of gold for one unit weight
of silver. It is not likely that our ancestors, primitive as they were at that time, knew the real trade value of pure silver. The metal was soft and not very useful for practical purposes; what they needed was bronze. That could have made the long journeys extremely profitable for the Minoans. This made it worthwhile to carve the words “The pure and the soft” on that granite slab near Kongsberg! The “pure and soft” was silver of course! The Minoans would have wanted to thank the gods for the costly goods in the same way as their Norwegian “trade counterparts” –  “When in Rome do as the Romans do”!

 PICTURE 5 / Bryce‘s list.

 The five characters compared with the catalogue of Minoan Linear A made by William Bryce.

How were the Minoans able to travel to Norway, and how did they know they could find silver there?

For those of our ancestors who lived alongside the DrammenRiver, around 3.700 years ago, it must have been an impressive sight to see the large Minoan Vessels sailing up the river! The boats were at least 35 meters long and the large sails, of the same type as we know from the Viking ships, were 20 meters high. In comparison, the largest Viking Ship, Gogstadskipet, was only 26 meters. Arriving up the river, at the place today named Hokksund, the sails were lowered and the crew started to use the oars. They rowed up the side river to Vestfossen. The land was much lower in the Bronze Age; consequently the waterway was navigable all the way up to Fiskum, only 5 km from where Kongsberg is situated today. From Fiskum there is a small valley and gorge leading directly to the target.

 PICTURE 6 Map of the area depicting the route.

 On the map you will be able to follow the possible navigable route, The Drammen Fjord, the DrammenRiver up to Hokksund, Vestfossen and on to Fiskum. We know that the Minoans were highly skilled sailors who were constantly navigating the entire Mediterranean. Their ships were already, in the Bronze Age, of a most sophisticated design. They were equipped with a keel so they could sail against the wind. We never did succeed in finding a wreck or even any remains of a Minoan ship. Not until quite recently have we been able to collect sufficient information that enables us to reconstruct a ship with a high degree of probability. In particular, the present excavations at Santorini have given us such information. Large wall-paintings, that were preserved by being buried in lava in some houses there, depict Minoan ships leaving the harbour. This is the largest and most famous of them.

 

 

PICTURE 8: The Flotilla , Wall painting from Santorini,

This wall painting was sealed by the lava in the house where it was found; consequently it is much better preserved than any painting from the Minoan palaces.By analysing the perspectives in all these paintings, the Greek archaeologists have been able to determine the sizes of the ships and to make reconstructions. The paintings can be seen in a museum at Santorini that was built specially for this purpose. A good aid in these reconstructions was the many images of ships found on fragments of pottery as well as on seal stones. If we compare the design of the Minoan ships with the ships of the other seagoing nations of the Mediterranean in the same era, in particular the Phoenicians and the Egyptians,
these were unable to match the ships of the Minoans in seaworthiness and manoeuverability. History has underestimated the ships of the Minoans because the secrets behind their design had been lost. After the fall of the Minoan civilization, many years would pass until ships of an equally sophisticated design could be made, actually 1500 – 2000 years, until the era of the Vikings. It is therefore not unlikely that the Minoans might have left some of their know-how during their stay in Norway. We are almost sure their ships were technically not inferior to Viking ships made 2000 years later. With these the Vikings cruised all the oceans; they often visited the Mediterranean, and they discovered America 500 years before Columbus!

PICTURE 10. Norwegian Viking Ship.

 Thanks to the superiority of their ships, the Minoans had complete domination of the sea in this era. They could even defend the long coastline of Crete without coastal fortifications.  The Minoans were tradesmen, not warriors; therefore there was no war in this era that lasted for 1500 years! Their superiority came to an end with the great tsunami caused by the volcanic explosion and eruption at Thera (Santorini). This was the beginning of the end for the Minoan civilisation.

The heirs of the Minoans as seafaring nations, who took over the trade in the area, were the Phoenicians and the Egyptians.  The Phoenicians were also tradesmen. Even if they had less sophisticated ships than the Minoans, we have evidence that they were in Cornwall, England, where they, amongst others, became involved in mining. It is likely that the Minoans, also like the Vikings,used a solar compass to navigate their way on the oceans.  We know the Vikings was in America 500 years before Columbus, why not also the Minoans? I am almost sure that future research will come to that conclusion!

Were the Minoans in America 3000 years before Columbus?

How else could one be able to explain the following:

We have evidence that traces of cocaine have been found in Egyptian mummies. We know for sure that the plant from which cocaine is extracted only existed in South America until a few hundred years ago! Who could possibly have brought it there other than the Minoans! They were the only ones who possessed ships with the ability for such an ocean crossing! Do we have evidence for the following? :

1. That the Minoans really came to Kongsberg in the Bronze Age,

2. That prehistoric mining did take place at Kongsberg in the Bronze Age,

3. That the signs on the granite slab really were characters of Linear A,

4. That Aartun’s deciphering is correct.

Nine years have passed since I got involved in what later for me became “The battle of Kongsberg”, the reason I got involved was an article in “Aftenposten”, Norway’s leading newspaper. Since my schooldays I was very interested in the
“Minoan Enigma”. I was lucky enough to have a teacher who was a great enthusiast of Minoan history. The rise of this civilisation is one of history’s greatest enigmas! The fall of the Minoans happened after the eruption at Thera (Santorini), not as a direct result of the tsunami itself but after most of their fleet was lost; they became an easy victim for the Greek warriors from the mainland, the Mycenaeans, who destroyed their palaces and most other traces of a civilisation that was thousands of years ahead of its time. The Greek history is one of war; the Minoan’s was one of peace! Until quite recently we had no indication of from where the Minoans had come. The civilisation was suddenly just there, indicating that the  Minoans must have originated from somewhere in the Mediterranean region, but from where? When I read the article I found it quite natural to involve myself further in the mystery, not necessarily in order to
solve it but to try to understand more.

We have determined that the Minoan ships may have been of a construction sophisticated enough to sail the great oceans but unfortunately this is not enough evidence to establish that they actually were in Kongsberg in the Bronze Age. The characters are there, on the granite slab, but we have no evidence of how they got there. Having involved myself in the mystery for some years I suddenly got unexpected help from our neighbours in the east.

It appeared that the Swedish archaeologist, Oscar Montelius, put this theory forward more than a hundred years ago! What gave him the idea was the narrow time span between the Stone Age and the Bronze Age that really was there “from one day to the next!” Some sudden influence must have been involved. His theory was not immediately accepted, but his idea has occupied the Swedish archaeological class ever since.

In the spring of 2005 a book was issued from Oxford University Press:

“The Rise of Bronze Age Society”  ISBN: 0-521-60466-4

Authors: Kristian Kristiansen, Professor of archaeology at theUniversity ofGothenburg, and Thomas B. Larsson, professor of archaeology at theUniversity ofUmeå.

Both professors had occupied themselves with the subject until they got the chance to start a more comprehensive research project that lasted for 6 years. During the research period the two professors had examined thousands of texts and objects, in particular the stone carvings, (petroglyphs) that are to be found on both sides of the Norwegian/Swedish border in the Norwegian county of Oestfold and the Swedish county of Bohuslan. Kristiansen and Larsson had good support from all the universities in Sweden as well as from the Swedish radio that for a decade been broadcasting a program called “Stenristarne” “The stone carvers”.  This program aimed at educating and motivating the people to be aware of and to report the discovery of objects that could be classified as “archaeological findings”

Résumé of the researches:

In the Bronze Age an advanced culture had suddenly arisen in the southern Scandinavian countries with clear influence from the countries of the Aegean; first the Minoans, later also the Mycenaeans and the classical Greeks. The researchers concluded that it was most likely not only that the areas were visited by people from the south, but also that the population had visited the southern countries over a period that lasted about 1000 years! According to Kristiansen, inscriptions in both Minoan and Mycenaean Linear A and B have been found. Whilst the result did not cause any great surprise in Swedish and Danish archaeological circles, the Norwegians were thoroughly shocked! Therefore this revolutionary thesis has passed unheeded in Norway, even if the truth is that we shall have to rewrite history! The same survey explains and supports Jarnaes’ many findings at Kongsberg, in areas where indications of
old silver mines, astronomical and mathematical stone settings, are strong indications of the presence of an advanced culture.

 

PICTURE 9, Stone carving from Oestfold, Norway.

In their book, the two professors claim that the stone carvings, the petroglyphs of Scandinavia, depict ships from theMediterranean.

Se also: http://www.catshaman.com/15Sailors/05sailors12.htm

Prehistoric mining at Kongsberg.

I have myself, together with Jarnaes, visited the areas around Kongsberg and made photographs of what Jarnaes claims were residues of prehistoric mining. From several other European countries, we have also found evidence and detailed information of prehistoric mining. The pictures I took are all very similar to findings in Spain and in Serbia. I even had contact by e-mail with archaeologists in Serbia who supported my theories. What is rather special, with the Kongsberg silver, is that it could be found in a pure condition directly on the surface. Who could possibly believe that such findings could remain unnoticed right up to 1623? As soon as the source was depleted, the stone material, that had
been picked out together with the silver, was filled back into the ”mines”.

What surprised me most was that Jarnaes’ finding should cause such a stir in the established archaeological circles that they succeeded in sabotaging further research for many years. To start with, Jarnaes reported the findings to the historical institute of Oslo University. They immediately sent a young archaeologist to Kongsberg in order to examine the site. The young man became very enthusiastic with what he saw. He could establish that the incised mark indicated that the carving was most likely from the Bronze Age. The local newspaper reporter, who was there at the same time, printed the news in the next day’s newspaper, referring to the young man by name. The very next day an extremely angry professor from Oslo arrived on the spot; he was the senior person in the Archaeological and Historical Institute. He demanded that the newspaper reverse all they had written the day before. He determined, there and then, that there were no such things as Bronze Age discoveries or prehistoric mining at Kongsberg. Everything that was printed in the newspaper “was caused by the inexperience of his young assistant!” The Minoan signs were letters of the Latin alphabet and what Jarnaes claimed were prehistoric mines had nothing to do with mining whatsoever!

Death sentence to Norwegian Archaeology and Science

It took me some considerable time to get to the bottom of the motivation and the strange attitude of the established Norwegian archaeological scientists for the categorical rebuttal of Jarnaes’ findings. I will deal with this, in detail, later.

”The Battle of Kongsberg”

Here is a brief summary:

In connection with the “official silver mining of 1623” , a special ”museum of silver mining” was established at Kongsberg. The chief of this museum had spent his life writing “The history of silver mining in Kongsberg”.  If Jarnaes’ claim could be proven, his “life’s work” would totally disintegrate. If, in addition to this, evidence could be found that the Minoans came to Kongsberg for silver, and that the characters on the granite slab were Linear A, the catastrophe would be
complete and the old chap would have made a complete fool of himself! The resistance was so severe that it lasted right up to 2007, until the case came under further scrutiny. Jarnaes never gave up; he continued to send e-mails with pictures and even videos to experts in other countries. In 2007 one of these experts became involved and started further research. Costs were covered from foreign sources! One of the tests that the Norwegians had neglected to undertake, in all this time, was the obvious Radiocarbon 14 dating! The very first test blew “the 1623 limit” miles away!

I am not able to tell anything more at this time, because the research is ongoing. However I have sufficient information to be convinced that Jarnaes will come out of the battle with flying colours! The loser is the Norwegian archaological establishment. They have sabotaged progress on one of the most interesting archaeological sites in the history of Norwegian Archaological science for more than 20 years, for no other motive than to protect a colleague! This case will, in due time, force them to rewrite history!

The five Linear A characters.

It is more than 100 years since Arthur Evans came up with the first clay tablets with Linear characters from Knossos. The name “Minoan” is Evans “invention”. The Egyptians, from whom we have a lot of information about the Minoans, called them:

“The civilisation of the Keftiu”.

The younger Linear B version was deciphered in the early 50ties by Michael Ventris. The older Linear A was more problematic.

During the 20^th Century, a lot of work was done by Jean Pierre Olivier and Louis Goddard as well as William Bryce. They made complete catalogues of every known character, around 120. Each character has in some cases several variations

Linear A characters were meant to be written on papyrus or soft clay, not to be cut into stone! Taking that into consideration there is no more inaccuracy to be found in comparing the Kongsberg carvings with the characters in the catalogues, than you find if you compare the main character with the different variations of the same in the Bryce List.

Genetic evidence.

Archaeology has recently acquired new tools, some of them inherited from Medicine, such as radar and laser scanning of archaeological sites and reading molecular DNA of up to 5,000yr old bones. In February 2007, the prestigious
Stanford Research Institute issued a report on behalf of the Archaeological society of the USA. The survey used the new technique of molecular DNA analysis on bones collected from excavations in various countries in the Mediterranean. The DNA patterns were then compared with bones from Minoan tombs.  The result concludes that the origin of the Minoan civilisation is most likely to be the countries east of Turkey, somewhere between Iran and Iraq.  Enough Minoan genetic material was also found in Southern Scandinavia to support the theories of the book, “Rise of Bronze Age society”.

 The leading Athens Newspaper Kathimerini;

DNA sheds light on The Minoans

Crete’s fabled Minoan civilization was built by people from Anatolia, according to a new study, by Greek and foreign scientists, that refutes an earlier theory that said the Minoans’ forefathers had come from Africa. The new study – a collaboration by experts in Greece, the USA, Canada, Russia and Turkey – drew its conclusions from the DNA analysis of 193 men from Crete and another 171 from former Neolithic colonies in central and northern Greece. The results show that the country’s Neolithic population came to Greece by sea from Anatolia – modern-day Iran, Iraq and Syria – and not from Africa, as maintained by US scholar Martin Bernal. The DNA analysis indicates that the arrival of Neolithic man in Greece from Anatolia coincided with the social and cultural upsurge that led to the birth of the Minoan civilization, Constantinos Triantafyllidis of Thessaloniki’s Aristotle University told Kathimerini. “Until now we only had the archaeological evidence – now we have genetic data too and we can date theDNA,” he said.

Is it possible to decipher Linear A?

There have been many attempts to decipher Linear A. The problem, to start with, is that we do not know even what class of language it could possibly be. After almost 100 years of research there seems to be an agreement that 90 % of the characters of Linear B also occur in Linear A. It is also most likely that most of the sound values are identical. The one and only thing the linguists are in agreement about is that the language is not Greek. Some scientists suggest that it is Indo-European, similar to the languages from Anatolia; Huerrian, Uertian, Luvian, Hiti and Indo-Iranian. The second group (Aartun and Cyrus Gordon) is of the opinion that Linear A is a Semitic language.

Having been engaged with the enigma for all these years, I must admit that I have changed my opinion and updated the article several times since it first appeared in the local Cretan newspaper “Anatoli” in 2002.

The reason is first and foremost the new information, the book by the Swedish professors and the DNA report from Stanford.

In addition to that I have spent more time studying the various aspects of the case on my own. Thanks to the Internet, everybody who is interested in the subjects can take part and add information to the discussion.

This website is open to everybody.

http://people.ku.edu/~jyounger/LinearA/

Having followed the discussion for some years, I am not very optimistic that we shall be able to decipher Linear A for some time. I believe the situation will not improve until we discover more material.

In Jarnaes own blog,

http://jarnaes.wordpress.com/

You will find more information. Jarnaes and I have different views on Aartun’s deciphering.

Kongsberg 2012, 10 years after my first visit.

 10 years ago I wrote my first article about the findings at Kongsberg. The article was published in the Cretan newspaper Anatoli in June 2002.

 A lot of things have happened in the 10 years that calls for an update. I found the best way for an update is a visit to the place. Together with Johan Jarnæs I have looked through most of the same archaeological sites that has engaged me most for the last 10 years. Afterwards we had a thorough discursion. By such an occasion it is natural that the both of us made a summing up.

Johan Jarnæs and Sven Buchholz on the granite slab July 2012. The Linear A inscription is whitened up with chalk; Note the small size of the characters!

The Linear A inscriptions as they are today.

Jarnæs cleaned some dirt away and moistened with water to make the signs more easy to see. Thanks to the very solid rock material the inscription has not deteriorated.The cutting mark alone is sufficient to indicate that the inscription was engraved with a stone in the Bronze Age. The Linear A characters were designed to be written with a pen on papyrus. Cutting with stone is bound to result in some inaccuracies.

 For photographic sessions a little cleaning and make up is needed.

 “The wine sack with coral”

On this picture it is easy to see that the figure is cut into the rock with a hammer and a ponted instrument.

About this inscription “The wine sack with coral” Jarnæs and I are not in agreement. One can easily observe that the cutting marks are totally different from the stone cut Linear A inscription. It can only have been made with a pointed instrument, probably iron. (se the first picture to make this impression more visible) Look at the pointed cutting marks! Then it may differ as much as 1000 years in time!

Joh. Jarnæs spent a lot of his childhood in Kongsberg. As a boy he loved to play around in the woods and he had since boyhood a highly developed ability to observe. What he discovered as a boy brought him to think further as a mature man.

 When Jarnæs came up with the statement that what we se here is a prehistoric mine, he brought the entire scientific – historic camp in Kongsberg to scream. In 2007 Jarnæs got foreign experts on prehistoric mining to look at the site. Further investigations, including  ,were carried out with foreign recourses. These tests  blew the 1623 time line tousansands of years away ! Jarnæs and a friend had already at his own expenses carried out a C 14 Radio Carbon testing on a piece of charcoal much erlier. This test already mooved the time barrier back to 300 BC!

 The mines are totally overgrown, after they have been excavated.

There is a long shaft underneath that comes up to the surface some 20 behind. In accordance with prehistoric mining habits, the stones were put back in the shaft after the metal had been extracted.

 Jarnæs shows me that the visible part of the granite slab is only a fracture of what is grass cowered.

 Only a very little part of the slab has been examined till now. The grass layer is not very thick, so it would not have been a big deal to clean it all. The owner is very interested and would give all permissions needed to dig out the entire area. Now, when it is established that it is more then likely that the Minoans travelled to Scandinavia, I would be surprised if there not were more Linear A inscriptions to be found underneath! My hope for the future is that the new generation of archaeologists will have a more open mind and that more and more of them will be finding their way to this unique site so that the entire area will be professionally and thoroughly examined.

 Piece of pure silver as it came out of a Kongsberg mine.

There could be lumps of 40 – 100 kg! Unfortunately, Norway was “owned” by Denmark at the time, all recourses were robed from us and went directly to the Danish King who used most of it to finance wars! Norway also had rich copper mines like in Røros and other places. The Danes robbed Norway for lots of money during those years! When I hear Norwegians complain about the 5 years we were under Hitler I always ask: What about the “500 year night” we were under Denmark! If we send the bill to Copenhagen one day, I wonder how much it would be!

Evidence?

Where do we stand to day in comparison with in 2002?

Are we closer to being able to prove that Kongsberg had a history before 1623?

Since foreign expertise came to Kongsberg and carried out examinations, a radiocarbon dating alone blew the 1623 mark sky-high.

Did prehistoric mining really take place in Kongsberg?

Examinations are still going on, reports are being written, and therefore excluded from telling  more at the time, but one thing is sure: We have sufficient evidence to claim: Prehistoric mining did take place at Kongsberg!

Is it possible that the Minoans could have travelled to Kongsberg?

Archaeology obtained recently 2 new tools that put the entire science miles ahead. SCANNING and DNA. The DNA evidence proves that this is more than likely!   Sufficient DNA evidence has also been found in Sweden, north westGermany and in the British isles to prove the book: The Rise of Bronze Age Society is based on scientific facts. This also speaks for the Swedish archaeologist Oscar Montelius

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Montelius

who brought the idea up more than 100 years ago! The Minoans were even greater travellers than we have known. The newest discovery is from North West Germany, “Fricia” near the border to Denmark where remaining of a Minoan settlements was found. One of the objects was a seal ring with characters in Linear A! The DNA testing is still going on; new reports are being published all the time. Personally I would not be surprised if we one day will learned that the Minoans travelled even to America, 3000 years before Columbus! (Reference: Kokain in the Egyptian mummies, se abowe.)

Can we prove that the inscriptions on the slate are Minoan Linear A?

With all this new evidence and so much more information than we had only 10 years ago I would say that this is more than likely.  (se picture abowe with comparison Brice List) What about the inaccuracies? I put the question forward to Jarnæs who showed me a fax from professor Cyrus Gordon, which he had received in 1995 where he writes that the first sign is we in Linear A, and the last sign is ti in Linear A. Gordon was not able to identify the other three signs, as he did not recognize the two rare signs which are rendered in the supplementary list of William Brice´s list of the Linear A, namely, the yu-sign and the pi-sign. The pi-sign in the inscription has clearly the interior form of a cup, which identifies it as the syllable pi. (At that time, Cyrus Gordon had not studied the Linear A syllabary since the sixties.) The tu-sign in the inscription is the most difficult sign to peck into the hard gneiss. As the four signs match Linear A-syllables, the fifth sign must also be a Linear A sign, and then it can be no other sign than the tu-syllable. As a matter of fact, there is some likeness, and since the first and last sign are Linear A, what could the signs in the middle possibly be? The signs are pecked into the rock with a blunt instrument, apparently e stone, and the same peck marks are to be found spread out over the surface of the rock, as is common on rock carvings sites in Norway from the Bronze Age. The state of erosion of the signs also accounts for their antiquity. They are impossible to discover without sidelight.

 Are we closer to the enigma, the decoding of Linear A?

On this point Jarnæs and I are of different opinions. I do no longer believe in Aartun’s deciphering. I have been reading Aartun’s books over a long period of time. The more I read of them the less I believed it could be correct! I totally disagree with his methods.  In addition to that there are more and more suggestions coming up that the Phaistos disk is a fake! When that is proven Aartun will b in real trouble.

See:      https://araenil.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/is-the-phaistos-disc-genuine/

There have been many attempts to decipher Linear A. The problem is to start with, is that we do not know even what class of language it could possibly be. After almost 100 years of research there seems to be an agreement that 90 % of the characters of Linear B also occur in Linear A. It is also most likely that most of the sound values are identical. The one and only thing the linguists are in agreement about is that the language is not Greek. Some scientists suggest that it is Indo-European, similar to the languages from Anatolia; Huerrian, Uertian, Luvian, Hiti and Indo-Iranian. The second group (Aartun and Cyrus Gordon) is of the opinion that Linear A is a Semitic language. We have less than 100 inscriptions that are big enough to convey any meaningful message. Chadvick and Ventris were able to decipher Linear B, they had hundreds of clay tablets with inscriptions in Linear B. In addition to that they had got a certain clue that the language had to be Greek.

We simply have not nearly enough material to make a deciphering under the mentioned circumstances.

Champolion who deciphered the Egyptian hieroglyphs had the Rosetta stone with the same inscription in 3 languages, 2 of them were known! However, Champolion said that he probably would not have succeeded if he had not got a clue to a language related to the ancient Egyptian, Coptic! My only hope is that we find more written material, I have hopes for the Akrotiri excavations on Santorini and in Palaikastro where Sandy Mc Gillivray of the BritishSchool in Athens, by scanning has found evidence of yet another MinoanPalace!

 

The author with a copy of the 5 signs.

The authors residence in Agios Nikolaos Crete, Villa Ariadne.

Your questions are welcome to

 araenil@yahoo.no

 

Er Phaistos – Disken en forfalskning?

Er Phaistos – Disken ekte?

Av
Sven Buchholz

http://no.wordpress.com/tag/minoan-history-and-culture/

Klikk denne linken for index til hele kategorien minoisk..

I det vitenskapelige magasinet ”Minerva”
utgave juli – august kan man lese denne overskriften:

Phaistos – Disken, en hundre
år gammel farse!

 
Dette er nr 10 i en serie artikler av magasinets sjefredaktør M. Eisenberg, Ph.D.,som tar for seg problemer med forfalskninger av antikke kunstgjenstander. Forfatteren er en velkjent ekspert som har engasjert seg i slike forfalskninger gjennom mange år. Han har også deltatt i TV – programmer om temaet. Disken ble funnet 1908 av den italienske arkeologen Louigi Pernier i forbindelse med utgravningen av Phaistos palasset. Artikkelforfatteren, Eisenberg, hevder at disken er en forfalskning, produsert av dens finner Luigi Pernier!

Motivasjon.

Hvorfor skulle Pernier iscenesette dette ”stuntet”? Hans kollega, den italienske arkeologen Federico Halbherr gravet ut i Gortyna 1884. Han var meget fremgangsrik og fant flere gjenstander med inskripsjoner på klassikk gresk språk. Den mest kjente, ”Den store innskriften” fra tidlig 500 tall f. Kr. omfatter Europas første lovtavler som ble skrevet på bymuren! Dette funnet gjorde at Halbherr ble berømt. Pernier arbeidet sammen med andre Italienske arkeologer som gravet i det samme området, Messara. Ved århundreskiftet var han i ferd med å grave ut palasset Phaistos. Det var på denne tiden Arthur Evans begynte utgravningene av Knossos hvor han rask kom over en mengde leirtavler med innskrifter i minoisk Linear A og B. Forventningene var derfor store for at også Pernier skulle gjøre funn av gjenstander med skriftlig materiale. 1908 var det sannsynlig at han ikke hadde funnet noe slikt. Hva skulle han da gjøre for å vinne tilstrekkelig ære og berømmelse til å kunne konkurrere med Evans og Halbherr? Hva skulle han kunne oppdage? Han kom raskt på svaret: Et klenodium med en uoversettelig piktografisk tekst: ”Phaistos Disken”!

Som italiensk arkeolog, utdannet i Italia var det mer enn sannsynlig at han i forbindelse med sin utdannelse var blitt kjent med det som den gangen var det store samtaleemnet: ”Magliano – Disken”. Denne disken som var gravet frem sent i 1880 årene hadde meget til felles med Phaistos – Disken. Stilen er helt identisk, disken er tilnærmet rund og skriften løper utenfra og innover i spiralform. Språket var Etruskisk som på den tiden ennå ikke var tydet. Disse to diskene, Magliano og Phaistos, er de to eneste diskene av denne ”modellen” som noensinne er funnet!

Magliano disken

I sin artikkel analyserer Eisenberg alle aspekter i forbindelse med Phaistos – Disken for å finne frem til sannheten om dens virkelige opprinnelse. Eisenberg som i lang tid har beskjeftigets seg med temaet forfalskning hadde i denne forbindelsen samlet et så stort erfaringsmateriale at han kunne skrive: ”Stilistiske kriteria i forbindelse med forfalskning av antikke kunstgjenstander.” Hans samling om ”Falsknerens estetikk” ble publisert i Minerva 1992. Vi kan like
gjerne kalle den ”Håndbok i å avsløre forfalskninger av antikk kunst”. ”Håndboken” består av en lang liste med ulike punkter. Disse 9 er relevante i forbindelse med Phaistos – Disken:

1. Uoverensstemmelse i utførelsen av de forskjellige elementene.
2. Uoverensstemmelse i graden av abstraksjon for de ulike elementene.
3. Et unikt element i sin konstruksjon.
4. En unik stil: Tilsynekomst av en tidligere ukjent fullstendig utviklet stil eller type.
5. Stadig gjentagelse av falsknerens antikke yndlingsmotiver – fra flere tidsperioder eller på steder hvor de vanligvis ikke opptrer, eller typer som falskneren selv har oppfunnet.
6. Reversering, speilvending av imagen.
7. En syntese av geografisk totalt ulike stiler.
8. Grunnleggende ulikhet i elementenes tidsmessige plassering.
9.  Korreksjon ved eliminasjon. Mann kan bare tillate noen få av disse elementene å fremstå i en ekte antikvitet. Gjentagelse leder til å konkludere med at de må dreie seg om en forfalskning.

Likheter mellom de 9 punktene og Phaistos –
Disken.

Punktene er nummerert (*1*)  /  (*2*) etc. med referanse til punktene ovenfor.

Disken ble fra begynnelsen et kontroversielt diskusjonsobjekt. Inntil i dag er det over 100 publiserte forsøk på å tyde disken. Mange av forsøkene er meget fantasifulle! Ingen av dem har den minste likhet med noen av de andre. Phaistos Disken er helt unik! I motsetning til de leirtavlene som er funnet som er rektangulære er Phaistos – Disken så godt som sirkelrund. Det aller merkeligste er at tegnene ikke er gravert, de er trykket med stempler, et stempel for hvert skrifttegn. Dette er typografi 3.200 år før Gutenberg! Artikkelforfatteren Dr. Eisenberg finner det merkelig at disken er blitt til uten noen plan, slik som man kunne vent seg av en slik sofistikert inskripsjon. Tegnene er tilsynelatende stemplet mer eller mindre tilfeldig, noen ganger opp andre ganger mot venstre eller høyre. Det mest mystiske er at ingen slike stempler som er brukt her noensinne er funnet. Det er heller aldri funnet noe eksemplar av disken.  Det fleste leirtavler med minoiske inskripsjoner er bevart opp til vår tid da de har vært utsatt for brann. Det er lett synlig på de fleste tavlene at brenningen er ujevn som det lett kan bli i brann. Phaistos – disken er så perfekt og homogent brent som den bare kunne ha blitt i en moderne keramikk – ovn! (*3*) – (*4*)

Den som gransker disken for første gang vil med en gang legge merke til hvordan de ulike tegnene avviker fra hverandre stilistisk. Noen av tegnene avbilder objekter helt naturalistisk, nesten med fotografisk nøyaktighet mens andre er laget med en høy grad av abstraksjon. Vi kan akseptere at noen av tegnene på Phaistos – Disken likner på skrifttegn fra Linear A og B samt hieroglyfer fra Anatolia så vel som fra Kreta. Det finnes til og med enkelte som minner om Egyptiske hieroglyfer. Det er ikke vanskelig å forestille seg at falskneren stjal tegnene fra de andre systemene, og for å skape den fullkomne forvirring speilvendte han noen av dem! Phaistos – Diskens geografiske aspekter varierer fra Anatolia i nord til Egypt i syd med innslag av tegn også fra Kreta, både hieroglyfer og Linear A – B. (*1*)  – (*2*) – (*6*) Den kronologiske uoverensstemmelsen er på ca 600 år. Disken er overhodet ikke kompatibel med andre kretiske hieroglyfer, bortsett fra enkelte som har likhetspunkter med tegne fra ”Den graverte bronseøksen fra Arkalochori, en annen gjenstand som ble funnet under mystiske omstendigheter. 10 av de 15 hieroglyfene på øksen er unike.  (*5*) – (*7*) – (*8*)

Fordi mange av tegnene på en naturtro måte avbilder klart definerbare gjenstander var det enkelte som hevdet at Phaistos – Disken hørte til et piktografisk, skriftsystem det vil si ideografisk billedskrift. I et slikt system tilsvarer et hvert tegn det samme objektet det avbilder, selve gjenstanden, ikke ordet som slikt.  I japansk piktogram ideogram språk betyr et bilde av et HJERTE, et hjerte. Andre ord skapes gjennom kombinasjoner. For eksempel HJERTE + KNIV = smerte. Dette gjør at ulike språk som bruker dette systemet kan kommunisere med slik billedskrift uten å gå veien gjennom språk og ord! Det er imidlertid lett å forstå at et slikt system krever tusenvis av bilder, jfr. Kinesisk og Japansk for å formidle en meningsfull tekst. Phaistos – Disken har bare 45 tegn. Gjennom analyse av forekomsten, gjentagelser av ulike tegn etc. kan det konstateres at det ikke eksisterer flere! Det er derfor umulig at Phaistos – Disken kan være billedskrift. De fleste av de historiske skriftspråkene i området utviklet seg fra piktogrammer til stavelsesskrift. I et slikt skriftsystem representerer hvert tegn en stavelse bestående av en konsonant og en vokal eller to vokaler. I motsetning til i piktografisk skrift er det i et system med stavelsesskrift ORDET som bildet representerer som danner stavelsen. Eksempel HJERTE, på gresk KARDIA, stavelse KA. De fleste av de stavelsesskriftene vi kjenner har 100 tegn eller flere. Det absolutte minimum er 60! Derfor kan vi fastslå at Disken heller ikke hører hjemme i et slikt system. Et fonetisk alfabet som det Greske oppstod ca 750 f.Kr. har i moderne Gresk 24 bokstaver. To av dem er doble, Ξ , KSI  uttales KS  og Ψ, PSI uttales PS, det vil si at det hadde vært nokk med 22 bokstaver! Alt dette betyr at vi kan med rette hevde at Phaistos – Disken umulig kunne være skapt for å formidle noe intelligent og meningsfylt budskap!

Personlige kommentarer.

 Jeg er bland dem som siden ungdommen har vært fascinert av den ”Minoiske Gåten.  D jeg leste Dr. Eisenbergs artikkel vekket jeg et gammelt minne fra 40 år tilbake. En venn mottok et postkort med Phaistos – Disken. Han viste meg det og spurte om jeg kjente til den. Jeg tok det for sikkerhets skyld til en annen venn som gikk for å være ekspert på tidlig historie. Han tok straks frem en bok med bilde av Magliano – Disken. Jeg husker hvordan han lo da han sa: ” Den Disken, Phaistos, ser som ny ut sammenliknet med denne, Magliano som virkelig ser antikk ut!” Siden den gangen har jeg i mange år engasjert meg i Minoisk språk og skrift. Ikke for å decifrere men for å forsøke å forstå. Jeg har i detalj gjennomgått to av de mer seriøse vitenskapelig tydningsforsøkene.

”Die Minoische Scrift” av Kjell Aartun

Og ”Evidence of Hellenic dialects in the Phaistos disc” av Steven Roger Fischer.    Jeg kjenner begge disse forfatterene personlig.   Det tar tid å lese slikt stoff fordi at man må skaffe seg en mengde tilleggsopplysninger om temaet fra annen vitenskapelig litteratur som alle kataloger over varianter av skrifttegn. Heldigvis fant jeg på Universitetsbiblioteket i Oslo katalogene til Olivier / Goddard, og Brice med mer, samt bøker om emnet av Evans samt Chadwick, og Ventris som tydet linear B. All denne informasjonen gav meg innsikt i mysteriet, men det var ikke fordøyet på en dag. Det tok meg nærmere 5 år med mange gjentagelser. Med det kjennskapet jeg etter vært har skaffet meg om temaet var det ingen stor overraskelse å lese Eisenbergs artikkel. Jeg hadde de fleste av punktene hans i ”underbevisstheten”. Det meste av de misstankene jeg hadde opparbeidet kom nok fra lesningen av forsøkene til Aartun og Fischer.

Dette er mine viktigste innvendinger:

Det er ingen mulighet for de 45 skrifttegnene til å kunne passe i et system av billedskrift, stavelsesskrift eller fonetisk. Ingen sammenheng med andre minoiske skrifttyper. Aartuns bok omfatter også ”Den graverte Bronseøksen fra Arkalochori” med 15 hieroglyfiske tegn som har enkelte likhetspunkter med Phaistos – Disken. Av disse 15 tegnene er 10 unike, derfor finner jeg også dette objektet suspekt. Det er også Dr. Eisenberg inne på! Kanskje dette er stoff til neste artikkel?

Phaistos – Disken er unik, men det er overveiende sannsynelig at Magliano – Disken er modellen! Ingen av stemplene som ble brukt til å skape disken er noensinne funnet. Heller ikke eksisterer det noen annen kopi. Stilen er for meget
en blanding fra ulike perioder og steder. Tegnene varierer fra det rent abstrakte til det fotografisk naturalistiske. Takket være Internet er det i dag mulig for folk med samme interesse å holde kontakt på et verdensomspennende plan. Dermed holder mann seg også oppdatert.Jeg kjenner flere som deler mine misstanker til Phaistos – Disken, men fordi Disken er hevet til et ”overjordisk plan” som den var et hellig relikvie er det ingen som tørr å tenke det, langt mindre å si det offentlig. Det kunne lett bli oppfattet som blasfemi! Var det ikke slik også i H.C. Andersens eventyr ”Keiserens Nye klær?”

Det eneste som kan løse saken til alles tilfredshet er en ”Thermoluminiscense” test. Dette innebærer at disken blir varmet opp til 500 grader. Ved hjelp av en spektralanalyse av varmestrålene kan man da bestemme tidspunktet som objektet ble brent på med 20 års nøyaktighet. Dr. Eisenberg har flere ganger forsøkt å få i stand en slik test, men forgjeves. Han får ikke en gang lov å undersøke disken utenfor utstillingsmonteret. Her er kopi av svaret han fikk fra
Direktøren på Det Arkeologiske Museet i Heraklion, Dr. Nota Dimopoulo – Rethemiotaki:

”Kjære Dr. Eisenberg. Som svar på Deres e – mail av 25. juli 2007 må vi informere  Dem om at vi dessverre ikke er i stand til å ppfylle Deres ønske om å undersøke Phaistos – Disken eller den ”Graverte Bronseøksen”. Spesielt er øksen pakket i kasse og lagret mens Phaistos – Disken, fordi den er unik, er betraktet som immobil.”

Den som ikke var overbevist om at disken er falsk bør i hvert fall bli det etter å ha lest dette svaret fra museets direktør! Jeg er redd det ikke blir noen test, men for meg er ikke det av betydning. Dr. Eisenbergs beviskjede på 9 punkter sammen med mine egne observasjoner gjør at jeg er overbevist.

Dette argumentet burte egentlig også kunne stå alene:

Ingen kan påstå at disken hører hjemme i et fonetisk skriftsystem. De systemene vi kjenner idag har fra 22 til 35 tegn, da er det enkel aritmetikk å kunne fastslå at intet system av stavelsesskrift bestående av kun 45 tegn ville kunne formidle et intelligent budskap! Linear B har godt over 100 tegn! Alle er enige om at billedskrift krever tusenvis av tegn! Ref. japansk, kinesisk.

Derfor kan Phaistos – Disken kun være en forfalskning!

Det er ikke mange som kjenner til hvilken tilknytning Norge har til Phaistos – Disken. Det faktiske forhold er at det Norske Vitenskapsakademiet har tildelt nordmannen Kjell Aartun gullmedalje for angivelig å skulle ha tydet innskriften på disken.  Forskningsrådet, The Research Council of Norway har bekostet utgivelsene av alle verkene.

Mer informasjon på denne linken:

http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/why-not-test-the-phaistos-disc/

 

 

 

 

Ist der Diskus von Phaistos echt?

Deutsche Version.

Click this link to get versons in English, Greeek, and Norwegian and complete indesx of category

http://no.wordpress.com/tag/minoan-history-and-culture/

Ist der Diskus von Phaistos echt?

 Von Sven Buchholz

In der Ausgabe von Juli/August 2008 der archäologischen Zeitschrift MINERVA lesen wir folgende

Überschrift:

Der Diskus von Phaistos  – ein 100
Jahre alter Scherz!

 Es handelt sich hier um den 10. Artikel einer Serie des Chefredakteurs der Zeitschrift MINERVA, Jerome M. Eisenberg, Ph.D, der sich mit den Problemen von Fälschungen in antiker Kunst beschäftigt. Der Verfasser ist ein sehr bekannter Experte, der sich seit vielen Jahren mit derartigen Fälschungen befasst. Er hat auch an entsprechenden Fernsehprogrammen mitgewirkt. Der Diskus wurde 1908 von dem italienischen Archäologen Louis Pernier im Zuge der Ausgrabungen in Phaistos (Festos) gefunden. Eisenberg behauptet nun, dass der Diskus von seinem „Entdecker“ selbst geschaffen wurde.

 Motivation:

 Warum sollte Pernier wohl so einen Streich gespielt haben? Sein Kollege, der italienische Archäologe Federico Halbherr, hat 1884 Grabungen in Gortys durchgeführt. Halbherr war höchst erfolgreich und fand diverse Objekte mit Texten in Altgriechisch, die aus dem frühen 5. Jh. v. Chr. stammten, u. zw.  „Die Große Inschrift“, der erste Gesetzescodex Europas, niedergeschrieben auf den Stadtmauern. Halbherr wurde dank dieser Entdeckung sehr berühmt. Pernier arbeitete mit anderen italienischen Archäologen, die in dieser Gegend Grabungen  durchführten, nämlich in der Messara Ebene. Zu Beginn des 19.Jhts hat er in Phaistos gearbeitet. Das war zur gleichen Zeit, als Arthur Evans mit den
Grabungen in Knossos begann, wo er bald eine Anzahl von Tonscheiben mit
minoischen Linear A und B – Inschriften fand. Pernier hegte große Erwartungen
ebensolche Funde machen zu können. Es kann angenommen werden, dass er um das Jahr 1908 aber keinerlei Inschriftenmaterial gefunden hat. Was also könnte er wohl entdecken? Er hatte bald die Antwort darauf: Die Schaffung einer „Reliquie“ mit einem unübersetzbaren piktographischen Text – den Diskus von Phaistos! Pernier war ein italienischer Archäologe. Während seiner Ausbildung in Italien musste er über den Diskus von Magliano, das populärste wissenschaftliche Thema der Zeit um das Jahr 1890, bestens Bescheid gewusst haben. Der Diskus wurde von italienischen Archäologen in den späten 1880-iger Jahren ausgegraben und zeigt große Ähnlichkeiten mit dem Diskus von Phaistos. Die ganze Beschaffenheit ist fast identisch in seiner runden Form und dem spiralenförmig einwärts angeordneten etruskischen Text. Die etruskische Sprache war damals noch nicht entziffert. Der Diskus von Phaistos und der Diskus von Magliano sind die einzigen dieses „Typs“, die man auf der Welt gefunden hat.

 Der Diskus von Magliano

 In dem Artikel von Dr. Eisenberg werden alle Aspekte des Diskus sorgfältig analysiert, um Licht in das Dunkel um die wahre Natur seines Ursprungs zu bringen. Da sich der Verfasser  mit dem Thema Fälschungen seit langem befasst,
hat er genügend einschlägige Erfahrungen gesammelt, um seine Arbeit:

 „Die
stilistischen Kriterien von Fälschungen antiker Kunst“

herauszubringen. Seine „Sammlung über die Ästhetik von Fälschungen“ wurde 1992 in MINERVA publiziert.

Man könnte es ebenso gut
auch: 

„Anleitung
zum Aufdecken von Fälschungen antiker Kunst“

nennen.

Diese Anleitungen werden in vielen Punkten aufgelistet. Diese 9 hier angeführten sind alle im Hinblick auf den Diskus von Phaistos relevant.

1. Die Gegensätzlichkeit in der Ausführung der Elemente
2. Die Diskrepanz im Grad der Abstraktion der Elemente
3. Das unikale Element in der Konstruktion
4. Der unverwechselbare Stil: Das Auftauchen eines hoch
   entwickelten Stils oder Typs, der bisher unbekannt war.
5. Wiederholt auftauchende gefälschte beliebte antike Motive
   und Darstellungen in Zeitabschnitten oder Regionen, in denen sie normalerweise nicht vorkommen sowie auch erfundene Details
6. Spiegelbildliche Umkehr der Darstellung
7. Eine Synthese geographisch unterschiedlicher Stile.
8. Widersprüchlichkeit bezüglich der Zeit, der die Elemente zugeordnet
   werden
9. Korrektur durch Eliminierung. Man kann  eine geringe Anzahl solcher Elemente der Antike zurechnen, aber eine so große Anzahl derartiger Elemente wie auf dem Diskus legen die Schlussfolgerung nahe, dass es sich um eine Fälschung handelt.

 Ähnlichkeiten zwischen den 9 Punkten dieser „Anleitungen“ und dem echten Diskus von Phaistos.

Die Punkte sind nummeriert (*1*) / (*2*) etc.,
analog zu den oben erwähnten Punkten.

Der Diskus war von Beginn an ein umstrittenes Objekt, das Diskussionen
auslöste. Bis jetzt gibt es einhundert veröffentlichte Versuche den Text zu entziffern. Viele dieser Versuche sind ganz fantastisch! Keiner von ihnen hat auch nur die geringste Ähnlichkeit mit einem der anderen! Der Diskus von Phaistos ist einzigartig. Im Gegensatz zu allen anderen Funden von minoischen Tonscheiben, die alle rechteckig sind, ist der Diskus von Phaistos fast völlig rund! Das Eigenartigste dabei ist, das die Zeichen nicht eingraviert sind, sondern mit Stempeln aufgedruckt! Zu jedem Zeichen gehört ein passender Stempel! Also eine Drucktechnik 3200 Jahre vor Gutenberg! Der Verfasser, Dr. Eisenberg, findet es doch einigermaßen mysteriös, dass es offensichtlich keinen einheitlichen Plan gibt, was man bei einer so hoch entwickelten Schrift dieser Art erwarten würde. Die Zeichen sind mehr oder weniger zufällig aufgedruckt, manchmal zeigen sie nach unten, manchmal nach oben, nach links oder rechts. Ein anderes Problem ist die Tatsache, dass derartige Stempel, die dazu verwendet wurden diesen Diskus zu gestalten, niemals gefunden wurden! Auch keine Kopie dieses Diskus! Die meisten  Tonscheiben, die bis heute erhalten sind, wurden durch Zufall gebrannt. Der Diskus von Phaistos wurde perfekt homogen gebrannt, so wie das nur in einem modernen Brennofen für Keramik möglich sein kann. (*3*) (*4*). Wenn man den Diskus zum ersten Mal analysiert, so wird einem sofort der Unterschied zwischen den einzelnen Zeichen auffallen. Einige Zeichen stellen Objekte mit dem höchsten Grad an „fotografischer“ Präzision dar, während andere hochgradig abstrakt dargestellt sind! Mit genügend Fantasie und gutem Willen kann man akzeptieren, dass einige der Zeichen auf dem Diskus von Phaistos eine gewisse Ähnlichkeit
mit jenen von Linear A und B sowie mit Hieroglyphen aus Anatolien, ja sogar aus Ägypten haben! Es gibt auch einige Hieroglyphen aus Kreta. Man kann also
durchaus annehmen, dass der Fälscher diese Zeichen von anderen Systemen
gestohlen hat. Um die Konfusion perfekt zu machen, hat er noch die Bilder
einiger Prototypen der „gestohlenen Zeichen“ einfach umgedreht. Das Resultat
kann man daher nur als „Mixtur“ bezeichnen! Daher gibt es  Hieroglyphen auf dem Diskus, bei denen der geographische Aspekt sich von jenem aus Anatolien im Norden, von jenem in Ägypten im Süden, wie auch von den Zeichen der kretischen Linear A und B Schrift unterscheidet!  (*1*) /  (*2*) /(*6*)

Chronologisch betrachtet bedeutet das eine Zeitspanne von mindestens 600
Jahren! Man kann sagen, dass der Diskus von Phaistos mit keinen anderen
kretischen Hieroglyphen vergleichbar ist, außer dass einige Zeichen etwas
gemeinsam mit jenen der Inschrift auf der  „Beschrifteten Bronzeaxt von Arkalochori“ haben. Das ist an sich etwas, was mir bereits vor vielen Jahren verdächtig vorkam, weil von den 15 Hieroglyphen, 10 einzigartig sind! (*5*) / (*7*) / (*8*).

Da viele der Zeichen verschiedene Objekte sehr naturgetreu darstellen,
gab es Leute, die annahmen, dass der Diskus von Phaistos zu einem piktographischen Schriftsystem gehört. In einem solchen System entspricht jedes Zeichen einem dargestellten Objekt, aber nicht dem Wort, sondern der Abbildung als solcher. Daher bedeutet das Zeichen in einem piktographischen System die grundlegende Aussage der Abbildung. Ein Beispiel: Im japanischen ideogrammatischen Schriftsystem bedeutet die Abbildung eines HERZENS Herz. Andere Bedeutungen werden durch Nebeneinanderdarstellungen verschiedener Abbildungen geschaffen: HERZ+ MESSER = Schmerz. Es ist leicht zu verstehen, dass ein solches System tausende Bilder zu
einer verständlichen Kommunikation benötigt. Der Diskus von Phaistos hat aber nur 45 Zeichen. Einige von ihnen werden oftmals wiederholt. Es ist daher nicht möglich, das der Diskus zu einem piktographischen System gehört. Die meisten der antiken Schriftsysteme im mediterranen nahöstlichen Raum sind Silbensysteme. In einem solchen System bedeutet jedes Zeichen eine Silbe, die aus einem Konsonanten und einem oder 2 Vokalen besteht. Im Gegensatz zu den Piktogrammen stellt in einem Silbensystem jedes Zeichen das Wort des jeweiligen Begriffes dar. Zum Beispiel: das Zeichen für HERZ, im Griechischen KARDIA, Silbe = KA. Wie bereits oben erwähnt, enthält der Diskus von Phaistos  nur 45 Zeichen, wohingegen die bekannten Silbenschriftsysteme, wie zum Beispiel Linear A und B mehr als die doppelte Anzahl von Zeichen aufweisen. Ein phonetisches Alphabet, wie das Griechische, das 1000 Jahre später entstanden ist, braucht hingegen nur 24 Buchstaben. Daraus können wir schließen, dass die Art, wie der Diskus von Phaistos gestaltet ist, niemals dazu ausersehen war, eine sinnvolle Aussage zu transportieren!

 Persönliche Anmerkungen

 Ich gehöre zu denen, die das Mysterium der Minoer seit den Tagen meiner Kindheit fasziniert hat. Als ich den Artikel von Dr. Eisenberg gelesen hatte, erinnerte ich mich an etwas, was 40 Jahre zurückliegt. Ein Freund von mir erhielt von Verwandten, die auf Urlaub waren, eine Ansichtskarte mit dem
Diskus von Phaistos und er brachte sie zu mir, um nähere Informationen darüber zu erhalten. Damals wusste ich noch nicht viel über diesen Gegenstand und so brachte ich ihn zu einem Kollegen, der Historiker war, nichts ahnend, dass sein Fachgebiet das Etruskische, nicht aber das Minoische war. Augenblicklich präsentierte er mir ein Buch mit der Abbildung des Diskus von Magliano! Ich erinnere mich sehr gut daran als er lachend sagte: „Dieser da, der von Phaistos, sieht aus wie neu, während der von Magliano wirklich alt aussieht!“ Ich hatte das völlig vergessen, bis ich das Bild in dem MINERVA -Artikel sah! Da ist mir plötzlich ein Licht aufgegangen. Ich beschäftige mich seit vielen Jahren mit der minoischen Schrift. Es war nie meine Absicht den Diskus oder Linear A und B zu entziffern, aber ich habe versucht dieses Mysterium besser zu verstehen. Ich habe viel über die maßgeblichen Versuche, den Diskus zu entziffern, gelesen.  Zwei dieser Bücher „Die Minoische Schrift“ von Kjell Aartun und „Evidence of Hellenic dialects in  the Phaistos disc“ von Steven Roger Fischer. Ich habe beide von Seite 1 bis zum Schluss gelesen. Ich kenne beide Autoren persönlich! Solche Bücher zu lesen erfordert ziemlich viel Zeit und man muss ständig in vorhandenen Katalogen recherchieren, in denen alle Alternativen der diversen Zeichen in den entsprechenden Systemen beschrieben werden. Glücklicherweise sind die meisten dieser Kataloge von Evans, Chadwick, Brice und Olivier/Godard etc. in der Bibliothek der Universität Oslo erhältlich.

Durch diese Studien habe ich eine Menge über die wahre Natur des Diskus von
Phaistos gelernt. Es hat somit fast 5 Jahre gedauert, bis ich die beiden Bücher und die dazu nötigen Studien bewältigt habe. Nachdem ich mich mit diesem Material vertraut gemacht habe, war es für  mich keine große Überraschung, die Schlussfolgerungen in Dr. Eisenbergs Artikel zu lesen. Die 9 Punkte waren mir durchaus vertraut! Am meisten wurde mein Argwohn gegen den Diskus von Phaistos durch die Lektüre der Arbeiten von Kjell Aartun und Steven Roger Fischer erregt.

 Das sind meine 6 wichtigsten „Verdachtsmomente“:

1. Keines der 45 Zeichen passt in eines der Systeme.
2. Keine Kompatibilität mit anderen minoischen Schriften. Kjell Aartuns Buch Nr.1 befasst sich auch mit der Inschrift auf
   der „Bronzeaxt von Arkalochori“. Weil 60% dieser Zeichen    einzigartig sind, war mir auch dieses Objekt suspekt! Das stellt auch Dr. Eisenberg eindeutig fest. Hat er möglicherweise noch Material für einen weiteren Artikel?
3. Der Diskus ist einzigartig, aber der Diskus von Magliano ist offensichtlich Modell gewesen.
4. Keiner der Stempel oder ein anderer Diskus sind je gefunden worden.
5. Der Stil ist eine totale Mischung von  Elementen aus verschiedenen Epochen und Orten.
6. Die Zeichen sind sehr unterschiedlich. Sie reichen von fotografischem Naturalismus bis zum Abstrakten.

Dank des Internets gibt es heute die Möglichkeit der weltweiten
Kommunikation von Menschen mit gleichen Interessen. Gleichzeitig kann man sein Wissen auf den neuesten Stand bringen. Ich kenne viele Menschen, die meinen Argwohn teilen. Aber weil dieser Diskus zu einem „geheiligten Objekt“ gemacht wurde, fast zu einer Reliquie, wagt das niemand auszusprechen. Es könnte als Blasphemie ausgelegt werden! Die einzige Lösung um diese Diskussion zu jedermanns Zufriedenheit zu lösen, wäre die Durchführung eines „Thermoluminiszens-Tests“.  Mit diesem Test kann festgestellt werden, ob
ein Objekt vor hundert Jahren oder vor über 3000 Jahren erzeugt wurde!
Dr. Eisenberg  hat mehrmals versucht so einen Test durchführen zu lassen. Es war für ihn unmöglich den Diskus außerhalb des Schaukastens zu untersuchen. Hier ist die Kopie des Antwortschreibens von Dr. Nota Dimipoulo-Rethemiotaki, Direktorin des Museums von Heraklion:

„Lieber Dr. Eisenberg, in Beantwortung Ihres  E-Mails vom 25. Juli 2007, möchten wir Sie dahingehend informieren, dass wir leider nicht in der Lage sind Ihren Wunsch bezüglich einer Untersuchung des Diskus von Phaistos und der Axt von Arkalochori zu erfüllen. Die Axt von Arkalochori ist unter Verschluss und besonders verwahrt, der Diskus von Phaistos darf hingegen wegen seiner Einzigartigkeit nicht bewegt werden.“ Jeder, der durch die Lektüre dieses Artikels noch nicht überzeugt werden konnte, wird es nach dem Lesen der Erklärungen der Museumsleiterin nun sein. Für mich ist dieser Test nicht wichtig. Dr. Eisenbergs „9 Punkte – Beweiskette“ zusammen mit meinen eigenen Erfahrungen genügt mir, um mich zu überzeugen.

Für all jene, die mit dieser Argumentation nicht übereinstimmen, wird das nachfolgende Argument für sich sprechen:

Niemand kann behaupten, dass die Beschriftung des Diskus einem phonetischen System angehört. Diejenigen Systeme, die wir kennen, wie das griechische, das lateinische oder das russische Alphabet, haben 22 bis 35 Buchstaben, wobei jeder mit einem entsprechenden Laut übereinstimmt.

Es ist daher eine einfache Milchmädchenrechnung zu dem Schluss zu kommen, dass man mit keinem Silbensystem, das lediglich aus 45 Zeichen besteht, imstande wäre, irgendeine sinnvolle Aussage zu treffen. Linear B besteht beispielsweise aus über 100 Zeichen.

Wir alle wissen, dass Piktogrammsysteme, wie z.B. das chinesische oder japanische, aus tausenden Zeichen bestehen.

 Deshalb kann es sich bei dem Phaistos Disk nur um eine Fälschung handeln.

Ο δίσκος της Φαιστού, είναι γνήσιος;

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Sven Buchholz:

Ο δίσκος της Φαιστού, είναι γνήσιος;

Στο επιστημονικό αρχαιολογικό
περιοδικό MINERVA στο
τεύχος  Ιουλίου 2008,

εκδόθηκε ένα άρθρο με τίτλο:

Ο δίσκος της Φαιστού:

Μία φάρσα ηλικίας εκατό ετών!

 Το άρθρο είναι το δέκατο μιας σειράς άρθρων όπου περιγράφεται η πλαστογράφηση αρχαίων τεχνών.

Ο συγγραφέας Jerome M. Eisenberg Ph. D., ο αρχισυντάκτης του περιοδικού, είναι πολύ  γνωστός ειδήμων που ασχολείται με τέτοιες  πλαστογραφήσεις εδώ
και πολλά χρόνια. Προβλήθηκε και εκπομπή στην τηλεόραση σχετικά με το θέμα.

 Ο δίσκος της Φαιστού
Ο δίσκος βρέθηκε από τον Ιταλό αρχαιολόγο  Luigi Pernier κατά τη διάρκεια
των αρχαιολογικών ανασκαφών της Φαιστού το 1908.

 Ο συγγραφέας δηλώνει ότι ο δίσκος κατασκευάσθηκε από τον ευρέτη του  Luigi Pernier.

Κίνητρο

Γιατίεπινόησε ο Pernier αυτό το τέχνασμα; Ο συνάδελφός του, ο Ιταλός αρχαιολόγος  Federico Halbherr το 1884 ξεκίνησε τις ανασκαφές στη Γόρτυνα παράλληλα με τις ανασκαφές  άλλων Ιταλών αρχαιολόγων στην περιοχή της Μεσσαράς. O Halbherr βρήκε πολλά αντικείμενα με γραπτά κείμενα στην αρχαία Ελληνική γλώσσα που χρονολογούνται στις αρχές του 5^ου αιώνα π.Χ. Το πιο σημαντικό εύρημα, οι φημισμένες επιγραφές της Γόρτυνας, που βρίσκονται στα τείχη της αρχαίας πόλης αποτελούν τους πρώτους γραπτούς νόμους της Ευρώπης. Ο Pernier δούλευε μαζί με μια άλλη ομάδα ανασκαφών στη Φαιστό. Μέχρι την αρχή του 19^ου αιώνα πιθανώς δεν είχαν βρει κάποιο σημαντικό αντικείμενο. Ήταν την ίδια εποχή που ο Arthur Evans άρχισε τις ανασκαφές της Κνωσού. Ο Evans είχε πολλά ευρήματα από Μινωικές γραφές, Γραμμικής Γραφής Α και Β. Οι προσδοκίες ήταν μεγάλες για όλους ότι και ο Pernier θα έβρισκε  μινωικές γραφές. Δεν βρέθηκε όμως τίποτα τέτοιο. Τι να έκανε ο Luigi Pernier; Τι να ανακάλυπτε για να κερδίσει αρκετή υπόληψη και φήμη ώστε να ανταγωνιστεί με τον Evans και το Federico Halbherr; Ο
Luigi Pernier βρήκε την απάντηση γρήγορα: Ένα κατάλοιπο του παρελθόντος με ένα αναποκρυπτογράφητο ιερογλυφικό κείμενο, το Δίσκο της Φαιστού! Ο Pernier ήταν Ιταλός αρχαιολόγος. Κατά την διάρκεια  της εκπαίδευσής  του στην Ιταλία σίγουρα είχε μάθει αυτό που στα 1890 ήταν το μεγάλο αντικείμενο συζητήσεων: Ο Magliano Disko που βρέθηκε στα τέλη της δεκαετίας του 1880. Το κείμενο είναι στην ετρουσκική  γλώσσα που δεν είχε αποκρυπτογραφηθεί μέχρι τότε. Ο δίσκος της Φαιστού και ο δίσκος  Magliano είναι οι μόνοι δίσκοι αυτού του τύπου που βρέθηκαν ποτέ στον κόσμο! H τεχνοτροπία είναι εντελώς πανομοιότυπη. Περίπου κυκλικός, με το κείμενο στα Ετρουσκικά
να  στροβιλίζεται προς τα μέσα.

 
                                       Ο δίσκος Magliano.    

 Στο άρθρο του ο Eisenberger αναλύει όλες τις διαθέσιμες διαστάσεις για την αλήθεια με το δίσκο. Αφού ασχολιόταν με το θέμα της πλαστογράφησης αρχαίων τεχνών για πολύ καιρό είχε αποκτήσει αρκετή εμπειρία και  επομένως υλικό για να δημιουργήσει: «Τα υφολογικά κριτήρια  αρχαίων πλαστογραφιών» ή αλλιώς «Τις οδηγίες για την ανίχνευση πλαστογραφιών αρχαίων έργων τέχνης.

Οι οδηγίες αποτελούνται από πολλά σημεία. Αυτά τα εννέα σημεία έχουν αντιστοιχίες με το δίσκο.

1. Ανομοιότητα  στην τεχνοτροπία δημιουργίας των στοιχείων
2. Ανομοιότητα στο βαθμό αφηρημένης έννοιας των στοιχείων
3. Ένα μοναδικό στοιχείο στη σύνθεση
4. Μία μοναδική τεχνοτροπία: η εμφάνιση μίας πλήρως ανεπτυγμένης τεχνοτροπίας ή τύπο μέχρι πρότινος ήταν άγνωστη
5. Επαναλαμβανόμενα μοτίβα ή εμβλήματα του παραχαράκτη – σε περιόδους ή περιοχές όπου συνήθως δεν εμφανίζονταν – ή τύποι που ο ίδιος ο παραχαράκτης εφεύρισκε
6. Αναστροφή της εικόνας
7. Μία σύνθεση γεωγραφικά ανόμοιων τεχνοτροπιών
8. Ανομοιότητα  στην χρονική τοποθέτηση των στοιχείων
9. Διορθώσεις με τη μέθοδο της αφαίρεσης
10. Μπορούμε να δεχτούμε μόνο ένα μικρό ποσοστό  από αυτά τα στοιχεία  να εμφανίζονται σε ένα γνήσιο αρχαίο αντικείμενο.
    Αν υπάρχουν περισσότερα είναι σίγουρο ότι πρόκειται για μία πλαστογράφηση.

Αντιστοιχίες μεταξύ του δίσκου της Φαιστού και των εννέα σημείων στις «Οδηγίες για την ανίχνευση πλαστογραφιών αρχαίων έργων τέχνης».  Τα σημεία είναι αριθμημένα  (*1*) (*2*) ….κτλ. με αναφορές σε ό,τι έχει
προαναφερθεί.

Ο δίσκος έγινε  από την αρχή ένα επίμαχο αντικείμενο συζητήσεων μεταξύ των επιστημόνων. Μέχρι τώρα έχουν γίνει περίπου 100 δημοσιευμένες προσπάθειες για να αποκρυπτογραφηθεί το μήνυμα του δίσκου. Πολλές από αυτές είναι φανταστικές! Καμία από τις  προσπάθειες δεν μοιάζει με την άλλη!

Ο δίσκος είναι μοναδικός! Σε αντίθεση με άλλα  ευρήματα Μινωικών  πινακίδων αργίλου, που έχουν σχήμα ορθογωνίου, ο δίσκος της Φαιστού είναι κυκλικός! Το πιο περίεργο είναι ότι οι χαρακτήρες δεν είναι χαραγμένοι, τυπώθηκαν  με
σφραγίδες!  Ο κάθε χαρακτήρας  έχει μία σφραγίδα! Τυπογραφία 3200 χρόνια πριν το Gutenberg! Ο συγγραφέας θεωρεί όμως μυστηριώδες το ότι οι διάφοροι χαρακτήρες  είναι τοποθετημένοι συμπτωματικά χωρίς ένα γενικό σχέδιο, όπως θα περίμενε κανείς σε ένα πιο εξεζητημένο γραπτό σαν αυτό. Οι χαρακτήρες τυπώθηκαν λίγο πολύ συμπτωματικά, άλλοτε με φορά προς τα κάτω και άλλοτε προς τα πάνω, αριστερά ή δεξιά! Ένα πρόβλημα είναι όμως ότι δεν βρέθηκε ποτέ ούτε μία από τις σφραγίδες, ούτε κάποιος άλλος δίσκος! Οι περισσότερες πινακίδες που υπάρχουν με Μινωικές γραφές  διατηρούνται μέχρι σήμερα λόγω της έκθεσής τους σε πυρκαγιά. Ο Δίσκος της Φαιστού είναι όμως ψημένος τέλεια, ομοιογενώς, σαν να ψήθηκε σε ένα μοντέρνο φούρνο κεραμικών! (*3*) (*4*)

Αναλύοντας τους διαφορετικούς χαρακτήρες διακρίνει κανείς αμέσως τη διαφορά της τεχνοτροπίας μεταξύ τους. Πολλοί από τους χαρακτήρες απεικονίζουν πολύ φυσικά με ακρίβεια φωτογραφίας. Άλλοι έχουν μεγάλο βαθμό αφηρημένης έννοιας. Με λίγη φαντασία και καλή πρόθεση, μπορεί κανείς να βρει κάποιους χαρακτήρες που μοιάζουν με τη Γραμμική Γραφή Α και Β καθώς και με ιερογλυφικά από την Ανατολία. Υπάρχει και ένα Αιγύπτιο  ιερογλυφικό και δύο από την Κρήτη! Μερικοί από αυτούς τους χαρακτήρες που σίγουρα εκλάπησαν από άλλα συστήματα γραφών είναι και τοποθετημένοι αντίθετα από τους πρωτότυπους. Για να δημιουργήσει ο παραχαράκτης την τέλεια σύγχυση ανάστρεψε τις εικόνες των κλεμμένων
στοιχείων. 

Αυτό λέγεται μίγμα! (*1*)  /  (*2*)  /  (*6*)                                                            

Επομένως βρίσκονται στο δίσκο χαρακτήρες όπου η γεωγραφία διαφέρει
από την Ανατολία στο Βορά μέχρι την Αίγυπτο στο Νότο! Ο δίσκος έχει και χαρακτήρες που έχουν ομοιότητα με ιερογλυφικές γραφές της Αιγύπτου καθώς και Ανατολικών χωρών και με γραμμικές γραφές σαν τη Γραμμική γραφή Α και Β!   Όλες αυτές οι γραφές διαφέρουν κατά 600 περίπου χρόνια ηλικιακά! Επομένως, ο Δίσκος της Φαιστού είναι  ασύμβατος με τα υπόλοιπα συστήματα γραφών, γραμμικά καθώς και ιερογλυφικά της Κρήτης,   εκτός από ορισμένους χαρακτήρες που μοιάζουν με αυτούς στον «χαραγμένο χάλκινο πέλεκυ
του Αρκαλοχωρίου» που αποτελείται συνολικά από 15 ιερογλυφικούς χαρακτήρες.
(*5*) / / (*7*) / (*8*)

Επειδή (οι χαρακτήρες) απεικονίζουν πολύ φυσικά ορισμένα αντικείμενα υπήρχαν κάποιοι που πίστεψαν ότι επρόκειτο για μια εικονογραφική γραφή. Στις εικονογραφικές γραφές, στα ιδεογράμματα, ο κάθε χαρακτήρας εκπροσωπεί το αντικείμενο που απεικονίζεται, την εικόνα, όχι τη λέξη καθ’ αυτή. Στα εικονογραφικά συστήματα, στα ιδεογράμματα, ο χαρακτήρας σημαίνει η ιδέα της εικόνας. Παράδειγμα: Στα Ιαπωνικά  η εικόνα μίας ΚΑΡΔΙΑΣ σημαίνει «καρδιά». Άλλα νοήματα δημιουργούνταν με παράθεση  περισσότερων εικόνων, για παράδειγμα ΚΑΡΔΙΑ + ΜΑΧΑΙΡΙ σήμαινε «πόνος».
Για αυτό μπορεί κανείς να καταλάβει εύκολα ότι ένα εικονογραφικό σύστημα θα χρειαζόταν χιλιάδες χαρακτήρες για να ανακοινωθεί νόμιμα. Ο Δίσκος
της Φαιστού έχει μόνο 45 χαρακτήρες. Ο κάθε χαρακτήρας του δίσκου έχει και πάρα πολλές επαναλήψεις. Επομένως, ο δίσκος δεν μπορεί να ανήκει  σ’ ένα
εικονογραφικό σύστημα!

Οι περισσότερες προϊστορικές γραφές είναι συλλαβικές γραφές, δηλαδή, κάθε χαρακτήρας αντιστοιχεί με ένα σύμφωνο και ένα φωνήεν ή δύο φωνήεντα. Αντίθετα με τα εικονογραφικά συστήματα δεν είναι η εικόνα αλλά η λέξη που δίνει νόημα στον χαρακτήρα. Παράδειγμα:
χαρακτήρας που απεικονίζει μία καρδιά – ΚΑΡΔΙΑ – συλλαβή = ΚΑ.                   Το πρόβλημα είναι ότι ο δίσκος αποτελείται μόνο από 45 διαφορετικούς  χαρακτήρες ιερογλυφικών. Οι συλλαβικές γραφές,  σαν τη Γραμμική Γραφή  Α και Β καθώς και  οι ιερογλυφικές  γραφές της Κρήτης έχουν περίπου
100 χαρακτήρες, διπλάσιους από τους 45 του δίσκου.  Ένα φωνητικό αλφάβητο σαν το Ελληνικό, που δημιουργήθηκε 1000 χρόνια αργότερα, έχει μόνο 24 χαρακτήρες! Λόγω αυτών των γεγονότων συμπεραίνουμε ότι με αυτό
τον τρόπο που κατασκευάστηκε ο δίσκος, δεν επρόκειτο ποτέ να μεταδώσει
κάποιο  μήνυμα με νόημα.

 Προσωπικά σχόλια

 Εγώ είμαι ένας από αυτούς που σαγηνεύονταν από το Μινωικό
αίνιγμα από νεαρό αγόρι. Διαβάζοντας το άρθρο του Eisenberg μου αφύπνισε μία παλιά ανάμνησή μου πριν από 40 χρόνια. Ένας φίλος που παρέλαβε μία κάρτα με την εικόνα του δίσκου της Φαιστού από το θείο του που έκανε διακοπές στην Κρήτη μου την έφερε για να μάθει περισσότερες πληροφορίες. Εκείνη την εποχή εγώ δεν είχα τέτοιες γνώσεις, για αυτό και έδωσα την κάρτα σε ένα άλλο φίλο που  θεωρούταν Αυθεντία στην Ιστορία. Μου έδειξε αμέσως ένα βιβλίο με την εικόνα του δίσκου Magliano. Το θυμάμαι καλά όταν μου
είπε γελώντας: «Αυτός ο Δίσκος της Φαιστού μου φαίνεται σαν καινούριος σε
σύγκριση με αυτό του Magliano  που φαίνεται πραγματικά παλιός! Τα είχα  ξεχάσει όλα μέχρι τη στιγμή που διάβασα το άρθρο!

Ασχολούμουν  εδώ και πολλά χρόνια σχετικά με το θέμα, όχι για να αποκρυπτογραφηθεί το κείμενο αλλά για να καταλάβω κάτι από το αίνιγμα της
Μινωικής κοινωνίας. Διάβασα πολλά για τις προσπάθειες αποκρυπτογράφησης του δίσκου, ιδιαίτερα  τo βιβλίο  του Kjell Aartun, “Die Minoische Schrift “
καθώς και αυτό του   Steven Roger Fischer, “Evidence of Hellenic dialect in The Phaistos Disc.”

Γνωρίζω και τους δύο συγγραφείς προσωπικά. Για να διαβάσει κανείς τέτοια βιβλία χρειάζεται αρκετό χρόνο επειδή πρέπει να μελετήσει και  αρκετές  πληροφορίες που βρίσκονται στους διαθέσιμους κατάλογους του θέματος που περιγράφουν τις διάφορες παραλλαγές των χαρακτήρων, καθώς και τα βιβλία των Evans, Chadwick, Brice, Olivier- Goddard κτλ. Ευτυχώς όλα
αυτά τα βιβλία βρίσκονται στη βιβλιοθήκη  του πανεπιστημίου του Όσλο. Από όλες αυτές τις μελέτες έμαθα πολλά για την αληθινή φύση του δίσκου. Δεν μελετάει κανείς τέτοια υλικά σε μία μόνο μέρα. Εμένα μου πήρε περίπου 5 χρόνια!   Αφού εξοικειώθηκα με τα γεγονότα αυτά δεν ήταν μεγάλη έκπληξη να διαβάσω τα συμπεράσματα του κύριου Eisenberg. Αναγνώρισα τα περισσότερα σημεία και μου δημιουργήθηκε το ίδιο φρόνημα με το συγγραφέα του άρθρου. Τη μεγαλύτερη υποψία μου δημιούργησαν τα βιβλία του Aartun και του Fischer.

Τα δικά μου στοιχεία:

 

Δεν είναι δυνατό οι 45 χαρακτήρες του δίσκου να ανήκουν σε κάποιο σύστημα γραφής, είτε εικονογραφικής είτε συλλαβικής.

Ο Δίσκος είναι ασύμβατος με τα υπόλοιπα συστήματα γραφών, γραμμικά καθώς και ιερογλυφικά της Κρήτης,  εκτός από ορισμένους χαρακτήρες που μοιάζουν
με αυτούς στον «χαραγμένο χάλκινο πέλεκυ του Αρκαλοχωρίου». Κι αυτός αποκρυπτογραφήθηκε  στο βιβλίο του Aartun. Ο πέλεκυς που αποτελείται
συνολικά από 15 ιερογλυφικούς χαρακτήρες. Δέκα από αυτούς είναι μοναδικοί, για αυτό εγώ πιστεύω ότι κι αυτό το αντικείμενο είναι πλαστογραφία. Φαίνεται από το άρθρο ότι και ο Eisenberg έχει τέτοια υποψία.
Μήπως θα είναι η ύλη για το επόμενο άρθρο του;

Ο Δίσκος της Φαιστού είναι μοναδικός, αλλά ο Δίσκος Magliano είναι   προφανώς το υπόδειγμα! Δεν βρέθηκε ποτέ ούτε μία από τις σφραγίδες, ούτε κάποιος άλλος δίσκος!

Η τεχνοτροπία είναι μίγμα διαφορετικών χρόνων και
περιοχών. Οι χαρακτήρες έχουν μεγάλη ανομοιότητα στο βαθμό
αφηρημένης έννοιας μεταξύ τους.

 Διαβάζοντας όλα αυτά έμαθα αρκετά και για την αληθινή φύση του δίσκου. Επομένως, για μένα δεν ήταν μεγάλη έκπληξη όταν διάβασα το άρθρο. Πρόσεξα τα περισσότερα σημεία και μου δημιουργήθηκε η ίδια υποψία με το συγγραφέα του άρθρου. Χάρη στο Διαδίκτυο έχω παγκόσμιες επαφές με κόσμο  που συμμερίζεται την ίδια  αντίληψη, αλλά επειδή ο «Δίσκος» προωθήθηκε σαν άγιο λείψανοκανείς  δεν τολμά να το ισχυριστεί! Μία τέτοια δήλωση μπορεί εύκολα να ερμηνευθεί σαν βλασφημία!

Η μόνη λύση που μπορεί να τελειώσει  αυτή τη συζήτηση είναι το «thermoluminescense test» για να εξακριβώσουμε αν ο δίσκος δημιουργήθηκε πριν από εκατό χρόνια ή πριν από περισσότερα από τρεις χιλιάδες. Ο συγγραφέας προσπάθησε να κανονίσει μία τέτοια εξέταση πολλές φορές μάταια. Ούτε ήταν δυνατό να εξεταστεί ο δίσκος έξω από τη  γυάλινη προθήκη του μουσείου! Η διευθύντρια, η Νότα Δημοπούλου – Ρεθυμνιοτάκη
απάντησε:  «Αγαπητέ Κύριε Eisenberg. Σε απάντηση της ηλεκτρονικής  αλληλογραφίας σας στις 25 Ιουλίου 2007, θέλω να σας ενημερώσω ότι δυστυχώς δεν είναι δυνατό να ικανοποιήσουμε  το αίτημά σας για να εξετάσετε το Δίσκο της Φαιστού ή το χαραγμένο πέλεκυ του Αρκαλοχωρίου.Ειδικά ο χαραγμένος πέλεκυς  είναι εγκιβωτισμένος και αποθηκευμένος, επειδή δε ο δίσκος της Φαιστού είναι μοναδικός, θεωρείται ακίνητος»!

Αν δεν ήταν  πεπεισμένος κανείς ήδη, σίγουρα  θα τον έπειθε η
δήλωση αυτή του μουσείου!

 Εγώ δεν πιστεύω ότι θα γίνει ποτέ η εξέταση για να μάθουμε την αλήθεια του δίσκου. Για μένα, όμως, αυτό δεν έχει καμία σημασία.  Η σειρά των εννέα σημείων του Eisenberg μαζί με τη δική μου εμπειρία αρκούν για να με πείσουν.

Is the Phaistos Disc genuine? English text.

Is the Phaistos Disc genuine?

By Sven Buchholz.

http://no.wordpress.com/tag/minoan-history-and-culture/

Click this link for complete index this category.

In the scientific archaeological periodical Minerva, issue July / August 2008 We can read the following headline:

The Phaistos disc, a hundred year old hoax!

The 10^th in a series of articles by the Editor in Chief of Minerva, Jerome M. Eisenberg, Ph.D., dealing with the problem of forgery and ancient art. The author is a well known expert who has engage himself with such forgeries over a period of many years. He also participated in TV programs.

The disc was found in 1908 by the Italian archaeologist Louis Pernier in connection with the excavations of Phaistos. Eisenberg declares that the disc is created by its finder Louis Pernier!

Motivation: Why should Pernier pull such a stunt? His colleague, the Italian archaeologist Federico Halbherr excavated in Gortyna 1884. Halbherr was most successful and found several objects with written texts in ancient Greek language from the early 5^th century BC, “The great inscription” the earliest European Legal Code, written on the city walls. Halbherr became very famous due to this discovery. Pernier was working with other Italian archaeologists excavating in the same area, the Messara plain. At the beginning of the century 1900, he was working at Phaistos. This was at the same time that Arthur Evans started to excavate at Knossos where he soon discovered a lot of clay tablets with Minoan inscriptions, Linear A and B. The expectations were great for Pernier to make similar findings. By 1908 it is most likely that he had not found any inscribed material. What could he possibly do to gain sufficient fame and glory to compete with Evans and Halbherr? What could he possibly discover? He soon came up with the answer: The creation of a relic with an untranslatable pictographic text, the Phaistos Disc! Pernier was an Italian archaeologist. During his education in Italy he must have been quite familiar with the Magliano Disc, the most popular theme for scientific discussion in the 1890’s! The disc that was excavated by Italian archaeologists in the late 1880’s has a lot of similarities with the Phaistos Disc. The entire style is the same nearly round with the text in Etruscan, spiralling inwards.  Etruscan language was not yet deciphered at the time. The Phaistos and the Magliano are the only two discs of this “model” that were ever found in the whole world!

The Magliano Disc

In the article Dr. Eisenberg is carefully analysing all the aspects of the disc in order to enlighten the true nature of its origin. Since the author has engaged himself on the theme forgery for such a long period of time he has collected sufficient vital experience to create:

“Stylistic criteria in ancient Art Forgery”.

His “collection about aesthetics of the forger was published in Minerva 1992. You may as well call it:

“Instructions for the detection of forgery in ancient art.”

The instructions are listed in many points. These 9 are all relevant in connection with the Phaistos disc.

1. Adisparity in the execution of the elements.

2. Adisparity in the degree of abstraction of the elements.

3. Aunique element in the construction.

4. Aunique style: The appearance of a fully developed style or type hitherto        unknown.

5. Repeated favourite ancient motives and devices of the forger – in periods or regions where they do not ordinarily occur, or invented types.

6. Reversal of image.

7. Asynthesis of geographically disparate styles.

8. Adisparity in time-placement of elements.

9. Correction by elimination.  One can allow for a small number of these elements to occur in a genuine antiquity, but the preponderance of such elements for the disc leads to the conclusion that it is certainly a forgery!

Similarities between the 9 points of “the instructions” and the real Phaistos disc.

Points are numbered (*1*) / (*2*)    etc. with references to above mentioned points.

The disk became from the beginning a most controversial object for discussions. Until now there are more than one hundred published attempts to decipher the text. Many of these attempts are quite fantastic! None of them have the slightest resemblance with any other! The Phaistos disc is unique. Contrary to all other findings of Minoan clay tablets which are rectangular, the Phaistos disc is almost perfect circular! The most peculiar is that the characters are not engraved, they are printed with stamps! Each character has a matching stamp! Typography 3200 years before Gutenberg! The author, Dr. Eisenberg, finds it however mysterious that seemingly there is no overall layout, such as one might expect in a sophisticated script of this nature. The characters are stamped more or less coincidently, sometimes facing down, other times up, left or right! Another problem is that no such stamps used to create the disc have ever been found! Nor another copy of the disc! Most of the clay tablets that have been preserved up till our time were fired accidentally. The Phaistos disc however is baked perfectly homogenous as it could only have been in a modern ceramics oven!  (*3*)
(*4*)     Analysing the disc for the first time you will immediately distinguish the stylistic difference between the characters.  Certain characters are picturing objects with the highest degree of “photographic” accuracy, whilst others are designed with a high degree of abstraction! With sufficient fantasy and goodwill one can accept that some of the signs of the Phaistos disk have resemblance with characters of Linear A and B as well as hieroglyphic characters from Anatolia, even from Egypt! There are also some hieroglyphic characters from Crete. It is easy to believe that the forger stole these characters from the other systems. In order to make the confusion perfect he reversed the images of some of the “stolen items” in relation to those of the prototypes. The result can only be described as: “Mixture”! Consequently, there are hieroglyphic characters on the disc where the geographic aspect is differing from Anatolia in the North to Egypt in the south, as well as characters from the Cretan Linear A and B!  (*1*) /  (*2*)  /  (*6*)

Chronologically the span is at least 600 years! We can say that the Phaistos disc is not at all compatible with any of the other Cretan hieroglyphs except for a few characters it has in common with the “Engraved Bronze Axe of Arkalochori”.  This in itself is an item I found suspect many years ago, because out of the 15 hieroglyphic signs, 10 of them are unique!   (*5*) / /(*7*) (*8*).

Because many of the characters are depicting most naturally different objects, there were those who believed that the Phaistos Disc belonged to a pictographic ideogramatic writing system. In such systems each character corresponds to the object that is depicted, however the image in itself, not the word in itself! Consequently, in a pictogram system the character means the basic idea of the image. Example: In the Japanese ideogramatic writing system a picture of a HEART means heart. Other meanings are created by juxtapositions of different pictures: HEART + KNIFE = pain. It is easy to understand that such systems need thousands of pictures to convey a meaningful communication. The Phaistos Disc has only 45 characters. Several of them are repeated many times. It is therefore not possible that the disc can belong to a pictographic system. Most of the ancient writing systems in the Mediterranean Middle East area are syllabic systems. In such a system each character represents a syllable consisting of one consonant and one vowel or two vowels. Contrary to the pictograms, in a syllabic system each character represents the word of the image: Example, character depicting a HEART, in Greek KARDIA, syllable = KA.

As already mentioned above, the Phaistos Disc only comprises 45 characters whereas the known syllabic writing systems such as Linear A and B have more than the double number of characters. A phonetic alphabet such as the Greek that was created 1000 years later needs only 24 characters. From this we can conclude that the way the Phaistos disc is designed it was never intended to communicate any meaningful message!

Personal comments.
I am one of those who have been fascinated by the Minoan enigma since my days as a young boy. Reading the article of Mr. Eisenberg suddenly woke up a more than 40 year old memory. A friend of mine received a postcard with the Phaistos Disc from relatives on holiday and brought it to me for further information. At the time I did not know too much about the object so I brought it to a “historian colleague” not knowing at the time that his speciality was Etruscan, not Minoan. He immediately produced a book with a picture of the Magliano disc! I remember very well he said laughing: That one, the Phaistos, looks a good as new whilst the Magliano looks really old! I forgot all about it till I saw the picture in the Minerva article! A bell suddenly started to ring!

For many years I have engaged myself with the Minoan scripts. The aim never was to decipher the disc or the Linear A and B, but to try to understand more of the enigma. I have read about the more significant attempts to decipher the disc. Two of the books, “Die Minoische Schrift” by Kjell Aartun and “Evidence of Hellenic dialects in the Phaistos disc” by Steven Roger Fischer I have read from page one to the end. I know both writers personally! Reading such books is quite time consuming and you need to check all the time with existing catalogues depicting all the alternatives of the various characters in the respective systems. Fortunately, most of these catalogues by Evans, Chadwick, Brice and Olivier / Godard etc. are available at the library of Oslo University. From all these studies I learned a lot about the true nature of the Phaistos Disc. You do not digest material like this in one single day. Consequently it took me almost 5 years to fully “digest” the two books together with the necessary additional studies. Having familiarized myself with the material it was no big surprise for me to read the conclusions in Mr. Eisenberg’s article. I was already quite familiar with most of his 9 points! Most of my suspicion against the Phaistos disc came from reading Kjell Aartun and Steven Roger Fischer!

These are my 6 “Favourites”:

No way for the 45 characters to fit into any system.

No compatibility with other Minoan scripts. Kjell Aartun’s book no. 1 also comprises the Engraved Bronze Axe of Arkalochori. Because 60 % of the characters are unique, I also found this object suspicious! This is also clearly indicated by the author Dr. Eisenberg. Maybe he has material for one more article? The disc is unique, but the Magliano disc is an obvious model!

None of the stamps or any other disc were ever found!

The style is a complete mixture of elements from different times and
places.

The characters are differing widely from photographic naturalism to abstract.

Thanks to Internet it is possible to keep a world wide communication between people sharing an interest. At the same time it is easy to keep one self updated. I know many people who are sharing my suspicion. Because the disc has been “elevated” to become almost a “sacred object” nearly a relic, nobody dares to speak out! It might well be considered blasphemy! The only solution to stop this discussion to everybody’s satisfaction is to carry out a «thermoluminescense test». This test will establish if the object was produced a hundred years ago or more than 3000 years ago! Dr. Eisenberg tried to arrange this several times. It was not even possible for him to examine the disc outside of the exhibition case. Here is a copy of the answer of the director of the Heraklion Museum, Dr. Nota Dimopoulo – Rethemiotaki:

“Dear Dr. Eisenberg, In reply to your e-mail of July 25^th, 2007, we would like to inform you that unfortunately we are not able to satisfy your request to examine the Phaistos Disc and the inscribed Arkalochori Axe. Specially, the Arkalochori Axe is encased and stored, whereas the Phaistos Disc, due to its uniqueness is considered immovable.”

Anybody who was not convinced reading the article will certainly be so after having read this declaration from the head of the museum! To me the test is of no importance. Dr. Eisenberg’s “9 point chain of
evidence” together with my own experience is sufficient to convince me!

For those not in agreement this argument could easily stand on its own:

Nobody could possibly claim that the disk fits in a phonetic system. The systems we know have 22 to 35 characters. Linear B has more than 100 characters. It is therefore simple arithmetic to conclude that no syllable system consisting of
only 45 characters would be able to convey an intelligent message For pictogram systems we all know it takes thousands of characters, ref. Chinese and Japanese.

Therefore, the Phaistos Disc can only be a hoax!

For more information

http://tierneylab.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/08/07/why-not-test-the-phaistos-disc/

Evidence of prehistoric conections Crete / Norway. Norwegian text.

Sven Buchholz:

Evidence of prehistoric connections Crete  Norway in the bronze age.

Norwegian text.

Index category use link:

http://no.wordpress.com/tag/minoan-history-and-culture/

Opprinnelig skrev jeg artikelen 2003 for
lokalavisen ”Anatoli” her i Agios Nikolaos. 4 år senere ble den oversatt til Norsk og oppdatert.

Den greske teksten ble oppdatert 2007 for gresk presse.  Ny oppdatering er på gang etter at det er gjort nye oppdagelser.

Forhistoriske forbindelser Norge / Kreta i bronsealderen

Kongsbergmannen Johan Jarnes , (univesitetseksamen i historie, språk og arkeologi) er den som kommer med denne påstanden.

En høstdag i 1987 befant han seg på vandring i Kongsbergmarken. I den lave solen oppdaget han på en klippe innenfor
gårdsbruket til en av sine venner at det var skrevet noen underlige merker…

EIKONA 1  Bilde viser Johan Jarnæs og undertegnede
på klippen.

Etter å ha kostet og renset klippen kom det frem noen underlige skrifttegn som var ukjente for Johan Jarnes. (se fotografi eikona 2. og 3) Han fant disse innskriftene sensasjonelle. siden de i første omgang minnet han om bokstaver fra det fønikiske eller det klassiske greske alfabet!! Foruten disse merkelige skrifttegnene fant han 12 sirkulære skålformete groper med diameter fra 4 til 8 cm, samt et bilde som tydeligvis måtte være en båt.  Det fantes også diverse andre innskrifter på klippen.
Huggeteknikken bar vitnesbyrd om at disse innskriftene måtte ha sin opprinnelse i mange forskjellige tidsepoker. Foruten de nevnte «skrifttegnene»,
skålgropene og «båten», fant Johan Jarnes en ennå mer besynderlig figur på den samme klippen.  Denne figuren minnet i det hele tatt ikke om de 5 nevnte skrifttegnene. Den nedre delen av figuren gjenkjente Jarnes
senere som en «vann \ vinsekk av lær» Det merkelige var imidlertid at det på utsiden av vinsekken var tegnet inn tre parallelle horisontale bølgeliknende streker som tydeligvis skulle forestille vann. Oppe på «sekken»
fantes det et ennå merkeligere tegn som minnet om bokstaven V i det latinske alfabetet. Det mest mystiske i denne figuren var at de 3 parallelle bølgeformete strekene betyr «vann» ifølge de egyptiske hieroglyfene!

Båten var for Johan Jarnes en velkjent tegning på norske og svenske heller / klipper i Østfold og Bohuslän. Huggemerkene var identiske, derved kunne Jarnes fastesette tiden til bronsealderen, 1500 – 2000 f. Kr!

EIKONA 2 & 3, De 5 tegnene

Eikona 5, ”vinsekken”

Eikona 7, Båten.

EN GÅTE:

Jarnæs ble kraftig overrasket! Hva kunne disse innskriftene bety? På den ene siden minnet disse inskripsjonene han om bokstavene i det klassiske greske alfabetet hvis opprinnelse med stor nøyaktighet kan dateres tilbake til ca 750 f. Kr., på denandre siden fantes det klare indikasjoner på at innskriftene var 1000 år eldre!

Hva hendte på Kongsberg før 1623?

Byen ble grunnlagt i 1623 etter at en gjetergutt fant en stor sølvklump.
Gruvedriften med utvinning av sølv gjorde at Kongsberg rask vokste til en by
med ca 10.000 innbyggere. I 1958 var det slutt på sølvforekomstene og gruvene
ble lagt ned. Ifølge den ”alminnelige offentlige oppfattning” hadde ikke
Kongsberg noen historie før 1623. Dette aksepterte imidlertid ikke Johan Jarnæs
og noen venner. De har har de siste 25 år gjort sine egne undersøkelser for om
mulig å fastslå områdets tidligere historie. Blant vennene til Jarnæs fantes
det eksperter i mange disipliner, språk, arkeologi, geologi, astronomi.

Resultatet av disse undersøkelsen har Jarnæs sammenfattet i en bok: ”Før
Kongsberg ble til” Dette er interessant lesning. Det er gjort en mengde funn
både fra bronsealder og ennå tidligere epoker. Det mest oppsiktsvekkende er de
svært mange funnene som fastslår at det var gruvedrift i forhistorisk tid! Det
er meget som tyder på at sølvfeltet på Kongsberg var blant de rikeste i Europa.
Dessuten er sølvet fra Kongsberg det reneste som noensinne er funnet, i
motsetning til sølvet som er utvunnet i Middelhavsområdet som er sterkt
oppblandet med bly.

En annen av de mer oppsiktsvekkende funnene var en gruppe stener som var
omhyggelig plassert etter et astronomisk mønster. Andre slike steinsettinger
var laget etter klare matematiske geometriske mønstre. Det er helt klart at det
dreier seg om en såkalt ”solkalender”. Det er helt klart at befolkningen i
Norge 1500 år f. Kr som var heller primitiv umulig kunne hatt slike kunnskaper.
Denne vitenskapen kjennetegner en høykultur! Hvorfra var da diss kunnskapene
kommet?
Linear A, skrifttegn fra den Minoiske kultur på Kreta!
Jarnes spekulasjon om at tegnene kunne være fra det Greske alfabetet kunne ikke stemme, fordi de i så fall kun ville være konsonanter. Vi vet at klassisk gresk
er et språk som er særdeles rikt på vokaler.

Funnene på klippen ved Langkjern ble gjort i 1987. Gåten ble liggende uløst
helt til 1994. Da kom den Norske språkforskeren Kjell Aarthun til Kongsberg.
Han er kjent i vitenskaplige kretser langt utenfor Norge. Han har blant annet
mottak Vitenskapsakademiets pris for sin forskning på språk og skrift i
Middelhavsområdet og Midtøsten. De første ord som noensinne er skrevet i Norge!
Aarthun fastslo at det dreiet seg om en innskrift i Linear A det Minoiske
skriftsystemet fra Kreta!

Norges første skrevne ord:  Aarthun kunne tyde innskriften:

”Det myke og det rene”.

Når det gjaldt den andre merkelige
avbildingen på klippen kunne Aarthun fastslå at det dreiet seg om 2 av de samme hieroglyfiske tegnene som finnes på Faistos disken, ”vinsekken”, nederst, mens det øvre V formede tegnet kalles ”korallen” (De som har kjøpt med seg denne disken som suvenir kan lett kjenne dem igjen!)

I henhold til Aarthuns tydning betyr disse 2 tegnene: ”Plassen for gjester” Det vil si et kultsted til bruk for gjester.
Jarnæs hadde ennå en gåte: Hva skulle så de bølgeliknende linjene på vinsekken
bety? De ”Egyptiske hieroglyfene”. Minoene hadde konstant handelsforbindelse
med Egypt og kunne høyst sannsynlig ha lært seg å forstå deres skrift og språk.
Hieroglyfene betyr ”VANN”, og i de varme Middelhavslandene var rent vann ansett,som en kostbar gave. Selv om Minoene ikke hadde for vane å risse i fjellet slik, som Skandinavene på sine mange kultsteder i form av helleristningsfelt, var
ordet kult ikke noe ukjent begrep for dem. Skandinavenes helleristninger må ha
vært en slags kult for å pålale gudenes gunst.

Det rene og det myke.

Hvem kunne ha skrevet disse ordene på en norsk klippe 2000 år før nordmennene kjente skrivekunsten? Minoene? I så fall, hva gjorde de i Norge? Hva var meningen med disse ordene?  Etter Jarnæs oppfattning
hadde begge Aarthuns tydninger en klar mening. Minoene var i bronsealderen
Middelhavets dyktigste handelsfolk. De handlet så vel med Egypt som med
Midtøsten og alle landene i området. En av deres fremste spesialiteter var
handel med metaller, bronse, gull, sølv tinn bly etc. På denne tiden antar mann
at særlig Egypterne som hadde store mengder gull betalte for en vektenhet sølv
med 2 vektenheter gull. På den annen side var det lite sannsynlig at våre
norske forfedre i bronsealderen forstod sølvets verdi. Det var bløtt og kunne
ikke brukes til noe nyttig, det de ønsket var bronse. Slik kunne Minoenes lange
reise ha resultert i en enorm fortjeneste. Det var i sannhet vell vært
bryderiet med å risse inn ordene: WE TU YU PI TI på klippen i Kongsberg. Det
myke og det rene var selvfølgelig sølvet! For denne kostbare varen ønsket
Minoene på samme måte som sine norske ”handelsforbindelser” å takke gudene,
slik som i det gamle ordtaket, ”Når du er i Roma gjør du som Romerne”

Eikona 5  / Bryce list.

viser de 5 skrifttegnene sammenliknet med katalogen (William Bryce) over alle de tegnene som er funnet i Linear A innskrifter. Merk likheten!

Hvordan klarte Minoene og komme seg til Kongsberg og  hvordan kunne de vite at det var sølv der?

For de av våre forfedre som levet langs Drammenselven for 3.700 år siden må det ha vært et imponerende syn og se de Minoiske skipene for fulle seil oppover elven! Båtene var minst 35 m lange, og de store tverrseilene, av samme type som Vikingskipene kan ha vært ca 20 meter lange. For befolkingen på denne tiden må skipene ha fortonet seg som enorme! Til sammenligning var Gogstadskipet ca 26 meter! Kommet frem til det som i dag heter Hokksund, ble seilene tatt ned og mannskapet tok årene fatt. De dreiet de oppover sideelven mot Vestfossen. Landet i bronsealderen lå så meget lavere at det var farbar vannvei helt opp til Fiskum, bare 5 km fra det området som i dag er Kongsberg. Fra Fiskum fulgte de kløften frem til målet.

EIKONA 6

Dagens kart viser mulig vannvei til Kongsberg i bronsealderen. Vi vet at Minoene var fremragende sjøfolk som med skipene sine krysset hele Middelhavet. Skipene deres var av en særdeles avansert konstruksjon, utstyrt med kjøl slik at de kunne krysse opp mot vinden. Det har aldri lykkes oss å finne noe vrak av et Minoisk skip. Først i de senere år har vi fått informasjon nokk til å kunne rekonstruere dem med stor sannsynlighet. Det er de pågående utgravningene på Thira, (Santorini) som skaffet oss slik informasjon. De mange store veggmaleriene som her ble avdekket inne i hus som var begravet av lava forestiller flere Minoiske skip som er i ferd med å seile ut fra havnen i Thira. Det største av dem som av arkeologene har fått navnet ”Flotiljen” er bedre bevart enn flesteparten av de Minoiske maleriene som ble funnet i Kretiske palasser, takket være at de ble ”hermetisert” inne i husene av lavaen. Maleriene befinner seg alle i et eget museum som er laget spesielt for disse funnene på Santorini.

Eikona 8 : Flotiljen, Santorini,

Fordi det også finnes flere malerier hvor perspektivene er forskjellige har greske arkeologer kunnet rekonstruere de minoiske skipene. De har også hatt god hjelp av de mange mindre avbildninger som tidligere var funnet på potteskår, keramiske fliser og seglstener. Sammenlikner vi konstruksjonen av de minoiske skipene med dem til de andre sjøfarende nasjonene på Middelhavet i samme epoke, Egypterne og Fønikerne, kan disse ikke måle seg med de minoiske skipene i sjødyktighet og manøvrerbarhet. Historien har undervurdert Minoernes skip fordi hemmeligheten bak deres konstruksjon var gått tapt. Det skulle gå mange år før man  igjen skulle kunne fremstille like avanserte skip, faktisk helt opp til vikingene. Det er derfor nærliggende å reflektere nærmere over om Minoerne kanskje kunne ha etterlatt seg noe av sin viten under sitt opphold i Skandinavia. Vi  har derfor god grunn til å anta at skipene deres ikke stod teknisk tilbake for de vikingskipene man hadde ca 2000 år senere.  Vi vet at Vikingene seilte over alt med disse, til og med til Amerika som de oppdaget 500 år før Colombos!

Eikona 10 Norsk Vikinskip

Takket være sine ekstremt sjødyktige og manøvrerbare skip hadde Minoene fullstendig herredømme på havet i hele denne epoken. De klarte å forsvare Kretas lange kyst uten å anlegge kystfestninger. Dette herredømmet ble brutt av den store ”sunamien” som var et resultat i vulkanutbruddet på Thira. Dette var
begynnelsen til slutten for den minoiske sivilisasjon. Minoenes arvtakere,
Fønikerne, som blant annet overtok handelen på Egypt var som Minoene et
handelsfolk. Selv om de hadde langt mindre avanserte skip er det bevist over
enhver tvil at Fønikerne kom til Cornwall i England hvor de bland annet
engasjerte seg i gruvedrift. Det er sannsynlig at Minoene, på samme måte som Vikingene brukte solkompass for å navigere skipene sine. Det ville derfor ikke forbause meg om fremtidig forskning vil komme frem til at Minoene faktisk var i Amerika 3000 år før Columbus! Dette er den eneste plausible forklaringen vi kan komme opp med for å forstå det faktum at det i egyptiske mumier er funnet klare spor av kokain, et stoff som vi med sikkerhet kun fantes i Syd – Amerika på denne tiden.

Sølvet fra Kongsberg har en renhetsgrad som var meget høyere enn det sølvet som ble utvunnet i Middelshavslandene. Dette inneholdt mer bly. Gjenstander fremstillet av sølv fra Kongsberg  fremstår derfor med en
helt annen glans. Da Napoleon returnerte fra Egypt hadde han med seg blant
annet en stor sølvskatt. Enkelte av disse gjenstandene stråler med en helt
annen glans enn sølvet fra Middelhavslandene som er matt. Analyser gjort av
Museet Louvre beviser imidlertid ikke at sølvet stammer fra Kongsberg da
Minoene hadde for vane å blande opp metallene sine, men av samme grunn kan det heller ikke motbevises!

Kan vi bevise:

At Minoene virkelig var i Norge?

At det ble funnet sølv på Kongsberg før 1623?

At Aarthuns tydning av de minoiske skrifttegnene, linear A er korrekt?

http://www.aftenposten.no/kul_und/article257199.ece

Det er nå 9 år siden jeg ble ”involvert” i denne saken. Årsaken kan du se på linken over som representerer er artikkel i Aftenposte. Artikkelen fikk hele det arkeologiske – vitenskapelige – akademiske miljøet i Norge til å gå amok! Alle ropte ”Korsfest korsfest!! Man mente at folk som Johan Jarnæs burde vært innesperret! En ”vitenskapelig ”overkikador viste til et tilfelle i Telemark hvor en person hadde funnet liknende innskrifter på en fjellvegg. Da finneren var anset som en ”bygdeorginal hadde man klart å få ham innesperret, samtidig som de nevnte tegnene ble hugget bort fra fjellveggen, for å forhindre at det ikke skulle
sette griller i hodet på likesinnede! Dette står for norsk arkeologi i et
nøtteskal!

Jeg har alltid interessert meg for temaet så det var helt naturlig for meg å følge opp. Svært mange trakk den gangen på skuldrene og ristet på hodet ved tanken på at MINOERE skulle ha reist til Kongsberg. Jeg måtte innrømme over for meg selv at jeg ikke hadde meget å fare med annet enn selve skrifttegnene, om disse virkelig var ekte. På denne tiden var jeg også skeptisk til Aarthun.

Etter å ha foretatt mange undersøkelser, fikk jeg våren 2005 uventet hjelp fra vårt naboland Sverige. Det viser seg at en svensk arkeolog, Oscar Montelius fikk denne ideen.for nærmere 100 år siden. Selv om han ikke
øyeblikkelig ble akseptert, tente han en interesse som har opptatt svenske
arkeologer siden.

Våren 2005 kom det ut en bok på Oxford University Press:

”The Rise of Bronze Age Society”

 Forfattere: Kristian Kristiansen, professor i
arkeologi ved Gøteborg Universitet, og Thomas B. Larsson, professor i arkeologi
ved Umeå Universitet. ISBN: 0-521-60466-4

Begge hadde i en årrekke vært opptatte av temaet før de fikk anledning til å starte mer inngående forskning som skulle komme til å vare i hele 6 år.

De to arkeologene hadde i løpet av de 6 årene undersøkelsen varte undersøkt flere tusen tekster og gjenstander, i særdeleshet de mange helleristningene som
finnes i Sverige, så vel som i Norge, i Østfold fylke like ved Svenskegrensen.
De to professorene hadde god hjelp fra alle svenske universiteter samt fra
Sveriges Radio som i en årrekke hadde laget programserien ”Stenristerna”. I
denne programserien ble folk flest opplært og motivert til å oppdage
fortidsminner, noe som resultere i en mengde interessante funn. Sammenfatning av undersøkelsen:

I bronsealderen oppstod det ganske plutselig i Syd – Skandinavia en høykultur med klar påvirkning fra landene rundt Egeerhavet, først MINOERNE, senere Mykenerne og de klassiske Grekere. Undersøkelsen konkluderer med at ikke bare måtte disse folkene ha besøkt Syd-Skandinavia, men det var også sannsynlig at det resulterte i at folk herfra også besøkte de sydlige landene i en periode som skulle komme til å vare i 1000 år! I følge Kristiansen er det også i Sverige funnet innskrifter i både minoisk og Mykensk skrift, linear A og B!

Mens denne oppfatningen har vært vanlig i svenske og danske arkeologiske kretser i lang tid, går deres norske kolleger fullstendig fra konseptene slik at de får helt ”bakoversveis” bare av tanken! Derfor har denne revolusjonerende avhandlingen gått upåaktet hen i Norge, selv om sannheten er at vi i nær fremtid må skrive om våre historiebøker! Disse undersøkelsene forklarer de mange funnene til Jarnæs på Kongsberg, inne i områder hvor det finnes gamle sølvgruver og funn av astronomisk og matematisk art, som antyder tilstedeværelsen av en høykultur.

Vi har i flere europeiske land vitnesbyrd om gruvedrift i forhistorisk tid. Jeg har selv sammen med Jarnæs besøkt en del av området rundt Kongsberg og fotografert en del av det som Jarnæs mener er rester etter forhistorisk gruvedrift. De bildene jeg tok er nærmest identiske med tilsvarende funn i Syd – Spania og i Serbia.
Det karakteristiske er at sølvet var i ren tilstand og lå åpent i dagen i
malmårer i overflaten. Det kunne ikke overses.      Så snart forekomsten var tømt, forseglet man hullet ved å fylle igjen med gråsteinen man hadde fjernet. Dette var helt ny kunnskap. Ingen hadde tenkt i de baner før i det norske arkeologiske miljøet.

Noen yngre, mer kunnskapsrike og mindre
fordomsfulle norske arkeologer ønsket en grundigere undersøkelse av disse
funnene på Kongsberg. Disse yngre forskere gikk i bresjen for å avholde et
seminar 30-31 mai 2007, under ledelse av Riksantikvaren i Oslo, med
internasjonal deltagelse for å samle kunnskap fra denne type arkeologi, ukjent
i Norge, fra kontinentet. Dessverre har motkrefter innen det arkeologiske
miljøet og hos Riksantikvaren, som ikke ønsker innsyn i denne nye funntypen i
Kongsberg-området motarbeidet initiativet innenfra. Resultatet er at fokus
dreies vekk fra den opprinnelige problemstillingen:

”Kulturminner av ukjent art og alder på Kongsberg”

til å dreie seg om det alle kjenner til, nemlig Kongsbergs sølvverkshistorie etter 1623. Til det trenger man ikke noe seminar, det er bare å slå opp i leksika etc. De som trekker i trådene her, er åpenbart eldre arkeologer fremdeles forsker på den måten de alltid har gjort:
Fra hver sin egen lille bås hvor de ikke gidder å kikke inntil naboen, langt
mindre til en sivilisasjon som oppstod årtusener før DERES tidsregning startet.
Det siste i denne utviklingen er at Riksantikvaren likevel vil gjennomføre
seminaret. Man vil imidlertid bruke mesteparten av tiden til å ”gjennomgå den
etablerte historien”  Noen av Jarnæs funn får en viss oppmerksomhet, men de minoiske funnene blir for kontroversielt.

Det eneste jeg har kunnet finne ut, er at man setter ”kollegiale hensyn” til dem
som har nedlagt sitt livsverk i det gamle ”vedtaket” om at ”Kongsberg ikke har
noen historie før 1623”,
over den faktiske sannhet! For meg som utenforstående er det uforståelig at det
skal være så stor forskjell på forskningsmiljøet innefor de Nordiske land!

(De som eventuelt måtte ønsker å vite noe mer om funnene på Kongsberg, Linear A-innskriften på helleristningsfeltet, og deres tilknytning til det minoiske
Kreta, kan lese om dem i hans bok ”Før Kongsberg ble til”, ISBN 82-995158-0-7,
Kronos media forlag.)Link til Johan Jarnæs egen blogg  http://jarnaes.wordpress.com/

.

Eikona9 viser en helleristning i
Østfold. I sin undersøkelse hevder professorene Kristiansen og Larsson at disse
tegningene forestiller skip fra Middelhavslandene.

Det finnes flere som hevder at de har tydet den Minoiske Linear –  A skriften. Problemet for den som ønsker å påta seg denne oppgaven er at man ikke har svært meget materiale til sin rådighet. Minoene skrev med penn på ark eller ruller av papyrus som de kjøpte av egypterne. Det som er bevart opp til vår tid er bare fragmenter av mer ”formelle” innskrifter som ble risset inn på leirtavler, hugget inn på fragmenter av bygninger, keramikkfliser eller risset inn på smykker av gull. De største og mest interessante innskriftene finnes faktisk på slike gullsmykker.  De fleste av disse innskriftene er mer eller mindre ødelagt. Tilsamen har vi bare ca 80 fragmenter med linear A som er store nok til å gi mening. Se bilde ”zachros L-Aw” fra det arkeologiske museet i Sitia. Her finnes den største samlingen av Linear A – som noensinne er funnet. Disse kommer fra det 4 Kretiske palasset, Zachros, helt øst på Kreta. De 2 franske forskerne Olivier* (se nedenfor, gullnålen i Agios Nikolaos) og Goddard utga i 1975 en katalog over alle de innskrifter i Minoisk linear A som var funnet inntil da.  Den engelske tegneren William Brice har tatt for seg hvert enkelt tegn, til sammen 121 stk. I hans bok ”Brice katalog” beskriver han alle tegnene i Linear A listet opp sammen med alle varianter. Du behøver ikke være ekspert for å se overensstemmelsen mellom innskriften fra Kongsberg og tegnene i Brice katalog når du tenker på at disse er hugget med stein! I tillegg til dette har vi ”Faistos – disken” som inneholder 242 hieroglyfiske (billedskrift) tegn. Det er sannsynlig at Linear A er ”håndskrift versjonen” av den hieroglyfiske skriften på Faistos – disken. Den andre skrifttypen, vi kaller den Linear B, som det ble funnet flere hundre av blant annet på Knossos ble tidlig på 50 tallet tydet av den engelske kodeeksperten Michael Ventris i samarbeid med den engelske
språkforskeren John Chadwick. Språket i den ”yngste” av disse skrifttypene,
Linear B viste seg å være den eldste utgaven av det greske språk vi kjenner
til. Både linear A og B er stavelsesskrift, det vil si at et tegn representerer
en stavelse med en konsonant og en vokal, eller bare en vokal. Det å skulle
tyde en slik innskrift i ut ukjent skriftsystem er nærmest en håpløs oppgave
når også språket er ukjent. Tenk deg at du har EN likning med 2 ukjente! (De
egyptiske hieroglyfene kunne tydes fordi Napoleons soldater fant ”Rosette –
Stenen” en sten med samme innskrift på 3 språk).Michael Ventris var en militær
kodeekspert som tilbrakte krigen med å knekke tyskernes koder. Han klarte til
slutt å tyde Linear B fordi han hadde et enormt materiale til sin rådighet, det
finnes flere hundre leirtavler med Linear B. Da Ventris fikk for seg at språket
måtte være gresk, falt bitene på plass, men ingen trodde på ham! Dette var i
1953. Det arkeologiske miljøet ropte også den gangen ”Korsfest” Årsaken var at
Ventris hadde begått ”majestetsforbrytelse” ved å motsi den kretiske arkeologis
”godfather” sir Arthur Evans.

Tro ikke det du leser i turistbrosjyrene, der det står at det var Arthur Evans som oppdaget Knossos! Det var Kreteren Kalokerini, en foretningsmann fra Iraklio med stor forkjærlighet for historie og arkeologi. Knossos var ikke noe ”å oppdage” alle visste hvor det lå. Kalokerini begynte utgravningene ca 1875. Han gravet frem alle de store forråds – kamrene, de med de store krukkene, noe av det første du ser når du kommer inn på selve palassområdet. Det var da Evans fikk høre om Kalokerinis utgravninger at han reiste til Kreta, men arbeidet hadde stoppet opp på grunn av tyrkerne som den gangen var herrer over Kreta. De tyrkiske landeierne forlangte så mange penger at ikke engang Evans’ s pengesekker var
store nok. Da Kreta ble fritt ca 1900 (Det var faktisk selvstendig stat helt
til 1918) innfant Evans seg på riktig sted til riktig tid slik at han fikk
kjøpt hele landområdet.  Resten av historien kjenner vi, Evans gravet frem en stor del av Knossos, men det var ingen kontroll med arbeidet, Evans var ”enehersker” han gjorde som han ville.
Ingen vet med sikkerhet hva han fant! Som et eksempel kan jeg nevne at det på
1930 tallet dukket opp en vakker gullnål. (se bildet gullnål org) på et
antikkmarked i Brussel!!! (Nålen kan kun stamme fra Knossos, hvordan havnet den der?)Nålen ble heldigvis oppdaget av den franske skriftforskeren Olivier (en av forfatterne til ovenfor nevnt litteratur) Han kjøpte nålen og forærte den til
det arkeologiske museet her i Agios Nikolaos! Nålen er på baksiden inngravert
med 18 Linear A tegn! (Denne gullnålen har sin egen historie! Den kommer i en senere artikkel!)  Allerede i de første årene etter at utgravningene på
Knossos var kommet i gang hadde Arthur Evans opphøyet seg selv til en slags
”overkikkador”. Den som våget å motsi Arthur Evans ble utstøtt av det gode
selskap. Dette satte forskningen tilbake mange år.

Fordi Arthur Evans kategorisk hadde motsatt seg at språket i Linear B skulle være gresk var det ingen som våget å påstå noe annet, selv mange år etter Evans død!! Ingen ville trodd på Michael Ventris om han ikke hadde fått støtte av sin kjente landsmann, språkforskeren John Chadwick. Som professor ved Oxford Universitetet hadde Chadwick den tyngden som skulle til for å skjære igjennom innvendingene. Inspirert av Schliermans mange gullfunn i forbindelse med utgravninger i Troya og Mykene måtte også Evans ha vært besatt av tanken på gull! Han ødela derfor svært meget ved sin til dels brutale amatørmessige fremgangsmåte. Det verste han gjorde er etter min oppfattning å ødelegge flere hundre leirtavler med minoisk skrift. (Mange av dem kan ha vært Linear A) De ble ødelagt av et kraftig regnskyll fordi Evans ikke hadde beskyttet dem mot været!

I motsetning til Ventris kom Aarthun til at språket i Linear A IKKE kunne være gresk! Han hadde aldri tatt mål av seg til å tyde denne skriften inntil han en dag mottok et postkort med bilde av Faistos – disken. Aarthun hadde da i 40 år
beskjeftiget seg med forskning på semittiske språk, noe som han hadde høstet
stor internasjonal anerkjennelse for. Han gjenkjente derfor de fleste av
billedtegnene på disken. Han konkluderte med at språket var en tidlig versjon
av et syd – semittisk språk, et tidlig arabisk. Minoene var ikke grekere, de
var orientalere! Dette støttes av antropologiske undersøkelser som ble foretatt
så tidlig som 1918 på skjeletter fra minoiske og mykenske graver.

Sett i lys av det vi i dag vet, er dette logisk. Minoerne kom østfra, de grunnla den Minoiske sivilisasjonen på Kreta, en sivilisasjon som varte nesten 1500 år. I denne perioden var det ikke krig i området! De skriftene som finnes i Aarthuns
oversettelser gir vitnesbyrd om en usedvanlig høyt utviklet sivilisasjon. De
hadde både ordninger for sosial omsorg og forsikring! De som har besøkt Knossos har fått et innblikk Minoenes avanserte sanitærsystem med vann og kloakk! En svensk bekjent, Lotta som var reisleder på Kreta i mange år opplevet følgende:
I et skandinavisk reisefølge var det en mann som viste usedvanlig interesse for
kloakksystemet, han studerte kloakkrørene inngående før han spurte Lotta:
Påstår du at disse kloakkrørene er 3.800 år gamle?  Da Lotta svarte bekreftende kom det fra mannen: Det er umulig! Dette er Höganes patent fra 1922!!

Den minoiske sivilisasjonen er en av historiens største mysterier. Den gikk til grunne etter at flåten deres ble ødelagt i sunamien som oppstod ved utbruddet på Santorini. Da ble de et lett bytte for fastlandsgrekere, Mykenerne. De ødela den minoiske kulturen, men de overtok skriftsystemet deres, Linear A som de tilpasset gresk språk, dermed oppstod den skriften vi kaller Linear B.

Da vi hittil bare har funnet et fåtall av skriftene i Linear A vet vi alt for lite om
Minoerne. Håpet er at pågående utgravninger, først og fremst på Santorini vil
bringe oss mer materiale. Dere som besøker Kreta, tenk på dette neste gang dere
kommer for å besøke oss: Dere trår på hellig jord! Her stod vår vestlige
sivilisasjons vugge!

Etterskrift Forhistoriske forbindelse Norge – Kreta.

Aartuns tydning er omstridt. De var også alle tydninger av forhistoriske skriftsystem! Det er gått mer enn 60 år siden Ventris tydet Linear B, men det finnes fremdeles enkelte tvilere, særlig blant etterkommere av Evans og deres venner!!! Det var ikke bedre med tydningen av Egyptiske hieroglyfer og kileskrift.  Det hele gikk upåaktet hen til å begynne med før noen begynte å protestere. I tilfellet Champoleon og hieroglyfene mottok han til og med alvorlige trusler, især fra kirkelig hold. De egyptiske skriftene inneholdt for mange fakta som ikke var i overenstemmelse med Bibelen. En annen årsak til dette kan
finnes i den måten denne forskingen foregår på. Som regel sitter det
individuelle forskere i hver sin lille bås og vokter om hvert sitt livsverk,
det samme livsverk som smuldrer bort om noen andre skulle komme før i mål.
Ventris er den eneste som arbeidet åpenlyst. Han sirkulerte regelmessig
informasjon til alle sine kolleger om hvor han befant seg i ”sporet”. Allikevel
møtte han en kompakt storm av motstand da resultatet kom på bordet. Hadde det ikke vært for den hjelp han fikk fra John Chadwick hadde man neppe den dag i dag trodd på Ventris! Stridens eple er følgende:

Man har funnet frem til at ca 90 % av tegnene i Linear A innskriftene også forekommer i  Linear B. Hva så med lydverdiene?  De fleste seriøse forskere er i dag enige om en ting: Språket er ikke gresk. Det er foreslått: Huerrian, Uertian, Luvian, foruten semittiske varianter, Vest – Semittisk (Cyrus Gordon) og Syd –
Semittisk (Aartun). De første språkene stammer fra mindre sivilisasjoner som
kom fra områdene i Mesopotamia og slo seg ned i det området som i dag er
Tyrkia. Det er et åpent spørsmål om disse sivilisasjonene var av et format som
kunne være opphav til den Minoiske sivilisasjon. Tidsskjemaet stemmer også
dårlig da de eldste minoiske utgravningene, Mochlos og Vasiliki på Østkreta kan
dateres tilbake til 2.500 f.Kr, dvs ikke så langt unne Ceopspyramiden i tid!

Aartuns har skrevet 2 bøker om
dechiffreringen: Die Minoische Schrift, Sprache und texte. Band I (1992)

Og Band II (1997). Den
første med beskrivelse av gangen i dechiffreringen av Linear A og hieroglyfene
(tydningen begynte altså med hieroglyfene – så viste det seg at språket som kom
ut, gammel sydarabisk også var språket bak Linear A).. Bind II har presentasjon
og oversettelse av samtlige skrifttavler funnet til da. Utgiver er det
prestisjetunge vitenskapelige forlag Harrassowitz i Wiesbaden. Aartun fikk
kongens fortjeneste medalje i gull i2001, for å ha tydet den minoiske
språkgåten, etter anbefaling fra Det norske vitenskapsakademi.

Fra Aartuns bok om Phaistos disken

Aartun bruker til sammen 1500 sider på å underbygge sine tydninger. Han har en fullstendig grammatikk så vell som et vokabular for det minoiske språk.

Etter å ha lest alle innvendingene mot Aartuns besluttet jeg meg til å lese avhandlingen.

Kongsberg-innskriften, trolig fra ca. 1700 f. Kr.,
inneholder en variant av Linear A-tegnet for pi, som første gang ble publisert
av Aartun i 1992, mens innskriften på Kongsberg ble funnet i 1987 og publisert
i det lokalhistoriske tidsskriftet Langs Lågen i 1988, som en innskrift med
mulige oldgreske bokstaver på et helleristningsfelt! Aartun løste skriftgåten
da han kom til stedet i 1994. Det nærmest utrolige, er at denne korte
innskriften på Kongsberg, med tegnene we tu yu   pi ti er, etter mitt
skjønn, et klart bevis på at Aartuns dechiffrering av minoisk skrift og språk
er korrekt: Når tegnene, som er blitt kakket med en stein inn i fjellet,
samsvarer fullstendig, ett for ett, med de respektive Linear A-tegn i Brice’s
liste, og de to ordene som da kommer frem danner to forståelige ord som
gjenfinnes i det arabiske vokabular og som logisk hører sammen, både innbyrdes
og sett i lys av sølvgruvene i nærheten og Minoenes jakt på edle metaller og
handel i middelhavsområdet, kan det ikke dreie seg om tilfeldigheter. Dette
hadde ikke vært mulig hvis ikke Aartun faktisk hadde knekket den minoiske
språkgåten.-

Ved en tilfeldighet hadde jeg oppdaget at dialekten i en fjellandsby, Anogia inneholdt ord som jeg mente ikke kunne være av gresk opprinnelse. Jeg fikk dette bekreftet da jeg
overhørte en samtale mellom min Anogia venn Antonis og hans bror en dag jeg
besøkte hans taverna Ofou to Lo, her i Agios Nikolaos. Jeg forstod svært lite
av det som ble sagt. Det gjorde heller ikke kundene på nabobordet som viste seg
å være to greske språkforskere fra universitetet i Thessaloniki. Vi kom i
snakk. Jeg fikk Antonis til å skrive ned de ordene fra dialekten sin som var
ulik moderne gresk. I første omgang kom det 16 ord. I fellesskap klarte vi å
identifisere 5 av dem som tyrkisk og italiensk. De andre ordene var ukjent for
mine naboer fra Thessaloniki. Nå hadde jeg sjansen til å stille Aartun på
prøve. Jeg sendte ham alle ordene uten min venn Antonis s oversettelse.

Jeg må innrømme at jeg var imponert da ordene kom tilbake
fra Aartun med riktig oversettelse!  Alle ordene var arabiske, 4 av dem stod til og med i hans minoiske vokabular! Anogia er en liten by som ligger rett opp for Knossos, mot fjellkjeden Psiloritis. Det er flere minoiske funn fra dette området. Byen har vært isolert helt til 1930 tallet da de fikk den første veien. Jeg undersøker fortsatt denne merkelige dialekten, men jeg må gå forsiktig til verks, Antonis ble rasende over tanken på at han skulle være araber! Ikke mer hjelp å få der! Søker kontakter med e-mail. Jeg er frarådet å besøke Anogia. Her hersker fremdeles Vendettaen.
Politiet i Heraklion tørr ikke besøke byen. Folk blir skutt i bakgatene!  De advarer meg mot å dra dit, særlig om det skulle komme ut at jeg mener de er arabere!

Eksempel på et av  ordene: ”Ofou to lo”, navn på Antonis taverna, anogiansk dialekt.     To lo er gresk, tou leo, betyr: sier jeg deg Ordet Ofou var ukjent av mine greske venner samt språkfolkene fra Thessaloniki.

Antonis: Ofou er Anogia dialekt, det er ikke et ord men et utrop, tilsvarende norsk Ahhhhhh, ooooooo, som du sier når du pluttselig blir stillet over for noe vakkert, skjønt, deilig.

Aartun: Ofou er et
gammelarabisk navn på en plante som vokser i Midtøsten, den lukter så godt at
når folk lukter på den må de uttrykke: ahhhh, ooooooo!!!!

Ordet ”Ofou to Lo” var bare 1 eksempel, jeg har i alt 16 ord fra Anogia. Her i området har jeg ikke funnet semittiske ord. Men jeg vet det finnes andre steder. En engelsk forsker, J.D.S Pendelbury fikk den samme ideen på 1930 tallet. I sin første bok utgitt  1939 lister han opp flere sider med ord som ikke er greske. Flere av disse kan være minoiske. Dette er liikevel ikke noe bevis på at Minoerne var et semittisk folk. Kreta var på den tiden et multikulturelt multinasjonalt samfunn, derfor er det ikke rart at det finnes arabiske ord. Boken var resultat av mange års forskning. Vi vet at Pendelbury fant meget mer senere, men uheldigvis kom krigen og Pendelbury som slåss sammen med Kreterne mot Tyskerne ble drept i en kamphandling. Alle sine funn bar han med seg i en notisbok. Denne ble ødelagt av de tyskerne som fant ham, de trodde det var en heimelig kodebok!

 Etterskrift 2.

Det prestisjetunge Stanford Institute utgav februar 2007 en rapport laget på oppdrag av The Archaeological society of USA Undersøkelsen benytter den nye teknologien med molekylær DNA forretatt på ben samlet fra ulike utgravninger i Middelhavsområdet og Skandinavia. I korthet viser resultatet til at minoerne
etter all sansynelighet kommer fra et område mellom det som i dag er Irak -Iran. Det ble funnet tilstrekkelig minoisk arvemateriale til å underbygge besøk i Skandinavia i bronsealderen.

I 2009 utgav franskmannen Hubert la Marleen bok hvor han hevder å ha tydet den minoiske skriften Linear A. Språket er Euro Sandskritt. Dette stemmer med den geografiske beliggenheten i Stanfords raport. Tydningen til La Marle som alle andre forsøk fremdeles omstridt.

Alle som jobber med saken bruker en webside som redigeres av professor Younger Kansas University.

http://people.ku.edu/~jyounger/LinearA/

Forfatteren med kopi av de 5 minoiske skrifttegnene.

Link til Johan Jarnæs egen blogg. http://jarnaes.wordpress.com/

En oppsumering:

”Slaget om Kongsberg.”

Det er gått over 20 år siden Jarnæs fant innskriftene på klippen. Da jeg kom inni bildet etter å ha lest Aftenposten januar 2002 satte jeg meg først å fremst
ned for å prøve å forstå. Jarnæs sine oppdagelser har mange aspekter.

1.Funn av steinsettinger i astronomisk orden mm. Dette indikerer
tilstedeværelsen av en høykultur på en tid da slik kunnskap ikke skulle finnes i Norge.

2. Rester av forhistorisk gruvedrift.

3. Innskriftene på klippen. Dette på et sted som i henhold til ”den
etablerte oppfattning” ikke hadde noen historie før 1623 da en gjetergutt fant en sølvklump. Jeg presiserer at ”Slaget om Kongsberg” er helt og holdent min personlige oppfattning av saken siden den dagen jeg ble involvert! Tittelen ”Slaget om Kongsberg” står helt og holdent for min regning. Da Jarnæs offentliggjorde funnene ble det ”bråk”! (for å si det mildt.) Den første arkeologen
fra ”Oldsaksamlingen” som kom på banen var full av ungdom og entusiasme.  Han erklærte omgående at han på grunnlag av huggemerkene kunne fastslå
at skålgropene og noen de eldste innskriftene måtte være fra bronsealderen. Da dette kom ut i pressen ble det ”liv i leieren”. Den unge
entusiastiske arkeologens sjef rykket omgående ut og tvang ham til å avsanne
denne påstanden som var tøys og tøv fra ende til annen. I mellomtiden hadde
Jarnæs fått en uttalelse fra det greske kulturdepartementet om at skrifttegnene
kunne være av gresk opprinnelse. Så stor innflytelse hadde sjefen for Oldsaksamlingen at han omgående ”gjennom sine kanaler” fikk
det greske kulturdepartementet til å trekke tilbake opplysningen om at
skrifttegnene kunne være av gresk opprinnelse. Nå ble det helt klart
at tegnene var latinske bokstaver. Verken mer eller mindre. Alle steinsettingene
var rent tilfeldige og var ikke av historisk betydning. Flere av disse er
siden ødelagt, hvorfor? Det som Jarnæs hevdet var spor av gruvedrift var ganske enkelt folk fra sølvverket som hadde prøvehugget for å lete etter nye sølvforekomster.

Jarnæs bør sperres inne!  Fylkeskonservator Helgem.Jeg forsøkte å få
kontakt med de ”involverte” parter. Hos fylkeskonservatoren
i Buskerud fikk jeg etablert en god kontakt da jeg fortalte at jeg var en
freelance journalist som ville skrive om saken. Fylkeskonservatoren
var en av dem som likte å prate! Jeg hadde mange samtaler med ham. Her er en konsentrert rapport:

Johan Jarnæs hadde
kostet ham (fylkeskonservatoren) ”år av sitt liv”.  Han, (Jarnæs) burde egentlig vært innesperret!

Her kommer den historien jeg har fortalt tidligere i teksten,

Et tragisk monument over norsk arkeologi:

Hans kollega i nabofylket Telemark hadde
hatt større hell med seg.  Det ble oppdaget liknende skrift tegn på en
bergvegg, men finneren som påstod at bokstavene var fønikiske, var en i de
flestes oppfattning en ”bygdetulling”, derfor var det en enkel sak å få ham
sperret inne.

En dødsdom over norsk arkeologi:

Fylkeskonservatoren fikk deretter hugget bort merkene før de skulle ”sette griller i hode på likesinnede”! 

Detteskjedde i slutten av 30 årene, like før den 2. verdenskrig.

For meg er denne historien en knusende dom  over mentaliteten i norsk arkeologi!

Heller  ødelegge noe som kan være et uvurderlig fortidsminne om det er i konflikt med en  enkeltpersons etablerte oppfatning enn å søke sannheten! Etter flere samtaler med fylkeskonservatoren begynte jeg etter hvert å forstå motivet. Noen ”foregangsmenn” ved sølvverksmuseet hadde nedlagt sitt livsverk i Sølvverkets historie. Om det nå skulle
vise seg at Jarnæs hadde rett, det vil si at Kongsberg HADDE en historie før
1623,

”ville dette livsverket styrte i grus!” 

 Han brukte faktiskdette uttrykket Rent ille ville det være om det skulle ha vært utvinning av sølv i bronsealderen! Om det nå skulle vise seg at Kongsberg hadde hatt besøk av Minoere for mer enn 3500 år siden ville katastrofen være fullkommen!

Jeg har selv besøkt
funnstedene sammen med Jarnæs og tatt en rekke bilder. Jeg har aldri utgitt
meg for å være gruveekspert, men det var ikke vanskelig å sammenlikne med
bildene Jarnæs hadde vist meg fra utenlandske nettsteder i Jugoslavia Østerrike
og Spania. Jeg har aldri vært i tvil om at mange av disse stedene er rester etter forhistorisk gruvedrift. Ville de ikke vært ganske merkelig om sølvet som i 1623 ble funnet helt i overflaten skulle kunne ligget der i tusener av år uten å ha bli oppdaget før 1623 som ”opplest og vedtatt”? Det skulle gå mange
år, nærmere 20 med påtrykk fra Jarnæs før han med hjelp av unge mer fordomsfrie arkeologer fikk Riksantikvaren til å holde et seminar om funnene på Kongsberg med internasjonal deltagelse.

Jeg har siden hatt kontakt med en av deltagerne fra Sveige som kunne fortelle at de fleste av de utenlandske deltagerne var av den klare overbevisning at flere av Jarnæs’s funn meget vell kunne være rester av forhistorisk gruvedrift. Disse rettet også kritikk mot de lokale arkeologiske myndigheter som ikke hadde sørget for bedre sikring av funnstedene slik at ikke så meget hadde blitt ødelagt. Det var også kritikkverdig at ikke videre undersøkelser hadde kommet i gang tidligere .Riksantikvaren lovet videre undersøkelser etter dette seminaret.

Bakstreversk vitenskap.

Hvorfor denne ”bakstreverske holdningen blant norske arkeologer? Slik som jeg har hatt muligheten til å observere er de mer opptatt av ”sin personlige prestisje i forbindelse med SITT personlige prosjekt. Arkeologien er en ”langsom” vitenskap. Det er lett å ”gro fast” på en slik måte at en ser det som om ”livsverket går i grus dersom andre på et senere tidspunkt skulle kunne komme til å ha andre oppfatninger en ”den etablerte” selv om dette skyldes at ny informasjon på et senere tidspunkt er kommet på bordet! (Vi har flere dokumenter på et merkelig adferdsmønster blandt folk sombeskjeftiger seg med denne materien. Se art. Phaistos Disk) Dette er antagelig ”et produkt av den rigorøse fremgangsmåten” som er arkeologiens uskrevne lovverk! Om du finner noe har du ikke lov å publisere det før du har sendt det ut på ”høring” til andre kolleger.  Bare det at om ikke alle er 100 % enige kan det lett gå 100 år før andre får vite
det dersom ikke alle er enige, det er de sjelden om det går på tvers av deres
oppfattning! Aartun fortalte meg at det var en av grunnene til at han var «uglesett»

Aartun: «Jeg er en mann på over 80 år! Jeg har valget mellom å publisere NÅ eller aldri!” Hva du enn mener om Aartuns arbeider så har han et viktig moment her! Ved hjelp av denne rigorøse prosedyren bremses vitenskapens fremdrift effektivt opp.

Gubbevelde.

Her ligger også meget i ansienniteten!  Det virker som det er en uskrevet lov at en yngre vitenskapsmann aldri vil våge å motsi en eldre kollega slik at det kunne oppstå en risiko for dennes ”livsverk”!  Uansett hvor håndgripelig
bevismateriale han enn måtte ha!

Kollegiale hensyn syntes å ha prioritet langt
foran sannheten!

Jeg har tidligere fortalt om diskusjonen med en av de mest aktive arkeologene her, Sandy McGilliavary. Da jeg antydet at arkeologien kanskje var like mye politikk som vitenskap svarte han: Du tar helt feil, det er 95 % politikk og 5 % vitenskap. Jeg tror heldigvis dette ikke alltid er så ille. De fleste av de arkeologene jeg har blitt kjent med på Kreta gir meg ikke et slikt inntrykk. Problemene i her i Hellas kommer ikke fra vitenskapen men fra byråkratene. Jeg tror det er verre i Norge enn andre steder. Misunnelse finnes over alt, men det er hevdet at i Norge er misunnelsen sterkere enn kjønnsdriften! Selv om vi snart får
vite sannheten om funnene på Kongsberg vil vi neppe få vite hvordan, eventuelt
HVEM som ødela mange av funnene. Vi kan bare håpe at det skyltes udugelighet og at det ikke ble gjort med hensikt slik som i den tragiske historien fra
Telemark!

Arkeologien har i mellomtiden fått nye ”verktøy”. Flere
av dem er nedarvet fra medisinen slik som skanning, av utgravingsområder og DNA
analyser av opp til 5000 år gamle benrester. I februar 2007 kom det ut en rapport fra det prestisjetunge «Stanford Research» foretatt for det samme
instituttet, Archaieological Institute of America. Man har benyttet den
nye «molekylære» teknologien, se:

http://biologi.uio.no/zool/hagelberg/

http://www.apollon.uio.no/vis/art/2007_1/Artikler/hagelberg

Ved hjelp av denne teknologien kan en få frem DNA analyser på 5000 år gamle benrester.

Rapporten konkluderer med at analyser av DNA i Sydskandinavia underbygger teoriene i boken: «The Rise of Bronze Age Society»! Boken ble  ble tildelt utmerkelsen:  ”BOOK OF THE YEAR” av  Archaeological Institute of Americas 2006. Da er det også konstatert at også Jarnæs har rett!

Fra  Hellas ledende dagsavis Kathemerini:

DNA sheds light on Minoans

Crete’s fabled Minoan civilization was built by people from Anatolia,
according to a new study by Greek and foreign scientists that disputes an
earlier theory that said the Minoans’ forefathers had come from Africa .
The new study – a collaboration by experts in Greece , the USA , Canada , Russia and Turkey – drew its conclusions from the DNA analysis of 193 men from Crete and another 171 from former neolithic colonies in central and northern Greece . The results show that the country’s neolithic population came to Greece by sea from Anatolia – modern-day Iran, Iraq and Syria – and not from Africa as maintained by US scholar Martin Bernal. The DNA analysis indicates that the arrival of neolithic man in Greece from Anatolia coincided with the social and cultural upsurge that led to the birth of the Minoan civilization, Constantinos Triantafyllidis of Thessaloniki ’s Aristotle University told Kathimerini.
“Until now we only had the archaeological evidence – now we have genetic data
too and we can date the DNA,” he said.

Slaget om Kongsberg  Sluttfasen

 Mange med meg venter på sannheten, men det må også være lov å ønske at den mentaliteten som har regjert norsk arkeologi i lengre tid får sitt lenge fortjente ”dødsstøt”, hvilket den MÅ få når sannheten kommer på bordet! Et ”livsverk som
bygger på usannheter lurer bare en selv! Kanskje ikke engang det? Er det da så farlig om det ”styrter i grus” for å sitere fylkeskonservatoren?

Siste kapittel. Jarnæs vinner!

Johan Jarnæs gav seg ikke. I 2009 fikk han kontakt med  ledende internasjonale eksperter på forhistorisk gruvedrift,. Jarnes hadde i mellomtiden gjort en grundig jobb ved å fotografere samt å lage en video av hele funnområdet. Disse  reagerte spontant og infant seg på Kongsberg.

Resultat: Etter at utenlandske eksperter kom på banen ble det fra utlandet bevilget penger til en grundig undersøkelse. Denne skjedde sommeren 2009.

Konklusjon:

Det ble funnet klare indikasjsoner på forhistorisk gruvedrift fra jernalder og bronsealder. Undersøkelsene pågår fremdeles derfor kan jeg ikke røpe flere detaljer anent enn at Sølvverksmuseet og Riksantikvaren måtte luske seg tilbake med halen mellom bena. De mange livsverkene sank i grus. Frem for alt myten om at sølvet ble oppdaget i 1623! Det hele låter egentlig idiotisk! Bly inneholder gjerne noen promille sølv. Sølv blir derfor nå, som i antikken i middelhavsområdet, utvunnet (ekstrahert) fra bly. Det var i antikken en lang og kostbar prosess. På Kongsberg lå svære klumper i dagen, i malmårene. Det var bare å pirke rent sølv rett ut av fjellet!. Det var som å komme til Eldorado! Og så skulle man tro at dette skulle ligge uoppdaget til 1623!