Editing Phaistos Disc (section)

== Origin of the artifact ==
For the first few decades after its discovery most scholars argued strongly against the local origin of the artifact. Evans<ref name=evans1909/>{{rp|p.24}} wrote that:

{{blockquote|...when one comes to compare the figures in detail with those of the [[Minoan hieroglyphic signary]], very great discrepancy is observable... Out of the forty-five separate signs on the Phaistos Disk, no more than ten more or less resemble Cretan hieroglyphic forms... The human figures in their outline and costume are non-Minoan... The representation of the ship also differs from all similar designs that occur either among the hieroglyphic or the linear documents of Crete.}}

[[Gustave Glotz]] claimed that the clay was not from Crete.<ref name=glotz1925>Gustave Glotz, Marryat Ross Dobie, and E. M. Riley (1925): ''The Aegean Civilization''. Knopf.</ref>{{rp|p.381}} Ipsen concluded that the disc was certainly from somewhere on the Aegean; however, because of its differences from Linear A or B, he, like Evans, supported a non-Cretan origin for the Disc. He observes, however, that since Linear A was a common Aegean script such an assumption will not resolve the problem of multiplicity.<ref name=ipsen1929/>{{rp|p.15}}

[[File:Vase 14 276 Cnossos.jpg|thumb|right|Vase from [[Knossos]] with a stamped sign similar to SHIELD.]]
However, the consensus on this question changed in later decades, as a few other artifacts were found on Crete with significant resemblances to the disc.   For instance, a vase found at [[Knossos]] (Vase 14 236) bears a stamped sign identical to the disc's 25 SHIELD sign (a circle with seven dots).{{citation needed|date=August 2023}} Also, under the bottom of a bowl found in 1965 at Phaistos (bowl F 4718 from the House South of the Ramp) there is a sign in relief, believed to be a potter's mark, that is practically identical to sign 21 (COMB).<ref name=bald2021/> A very similar sign is found as an impression on a sealing from a deposit of administrative documents discovered in 1955, beneath Room 25 of the Second Palace of Phaistos (sealing CMS II.5, n. 246).<ref name=bald2021>Giorgia Baldacci (2021): "[https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2021/11/phaistos-disk The Phaistos Disk-An Enigmatic Artifact in its Cultural Context] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230825090342/https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2021/11/phaistos-disk |date=2023-08-25  }}". ''The Ancient Near East'' (online journal), volume 9, issue 11 (November). Accessed on 2023-08-25.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/5996948|title=Notes on the Authenticity of the Phaistos Disk|first=Pavol|last=Hnila|via=www.academia.edu|access-date=2016-02-21 |archive-date=2023-09-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230904203256/https://www.academia.edu/5996948|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>[http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/fakultaeten/philosophie/zaw/cms/monthlySeal/monthlySealOlder.html Seal of the month – 2013] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422062939/https://www.uni-heidelberg.de/fakultaeten/philosophie/zaw/cms/monthlySeal/monthlySealOlder.html |date=2023-04-22  }} Heidelberg University</ref>  Female images with pendulous breasts have also been found at Malia and Phaistos.<ref name=goda1995/>{{rp|p.125}}The [[Arkalochori Axe]] also bears a short inscription that uses several signs similar to those of the disc.<ref name=timm2003>Torsten Timm  (2003): "[http://www.kereti.de/arkalochoriEngl.html The inscription on the Arkalochori axe] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171008000012/http://www.kereti.de/arkalochoriEngl.html |date=2017-10-08  }}".  Online article, at the ''Kereti'' website. Accessed on 2023-09-02.</ref>

These and other finds have made Cretan origin more popular.<ref name=bald2021/> This view was expressed by [[Michael Trauth]] in 1990,<ref name=trau1990>Michael Trauth (1990): "The Phaistos Disc and the Devil's Advocate: On the Aporias of an Ancient Topic of Research". [https://www.iqla.org/includes/basic_references/12_Glottometrika_Hammerl_1990_QL_45.pdf ''Glottometrika'', volume 12] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230825090343/https://www.iqla.org/includes/basic_references/12_Glottometrika_Hammerl_1990_QL_45.pdf |date=2023-08-25  }} (= ''Quantitative linguistics'', volume 45), pages 151–173. Quote: "Crete as [the] source of the Disc can no longer be called into question."</ref> Duhoux in 2000<ref name=duho2000>Yves Duhoux (2000:): "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/507232 How not to decipher the Phaistos Disc] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819012420/http://www.jstor.org/stable/507232 |date=2016-08-19  }}", ''American Journal of Archaeology'', vol. 104, iss. 3, pp. 597–600.</ref> and [[W. Andrew Robinson|Andrew Robinson]] in 2008.<ref name=robi2008>Andrew Robinson (2008):  "A century of puzzling". ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'', volume 453, pp. 990–991 {{doi|10.1038/453990a}} {{s2cid|5166897}} {{PMID|18563139}} Quote: "Most scholars today, including Duhoux, think it a plausible working hypothesis that the disc was made in Crete."</ref>