Editing Phaistos Disc (section)

== Physical description ==
===Material===
The disc is made of fine-grained clay. Some authors have stated that the clay does not appear to be of local origin, perhaps not even from Crete.<ref name=eisen2008a/> It was intentionally and properly fired, unlike tablets and seals that were baked only accidentally.<ref name=eisen2008a/><!-- Baldacci also claims it-->

=== Shape and dimensions ===
The disc is approximately cylindrical, about {{Convert|16|cm|abbr=on}} in diameter and almost {{Convert|2|cm|abbr=on|sigfig=1}} thick, with rounded edges.  More precisely, the outline is slightly egg-shaped, with the diameter varying from {{Convert|15.8 to 16.5|cm|abbr=on}} and the thickness from {{Convert|1.6 to 2.1|cm|abbr=on}}. The disc is slightly [[wikt:concave|concave]] on side A and [[wikt:convex|convex]] on side B.<ref name=eisen2008a/>

=== Typographic writing ===
The most remarkable feature of the Phaistos disc is that the embossed signs that comprise its inscription all result from pressing separate stamps – one for each symbol – into the soft clay before firing.  Thus the disc can be seen as an early example of [[movable type|movable-type]] printing.<ref name="schwa1959a">{{Cite journal |last= Schwartz |first= Benjamin |date= April 1959 |title=The Phaistos Disk |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/371517 |journal= Journal of Near Eastern Studies |language= en |volume= 18 |issue= 2 |pages= 105–112 |doi= 10.1086/371517 |s2cid= 162272726 |issn= 0022-2968}}</ref><ref name="schwa1959b">{{Cite journal |last=Schwartz |first=Benjamin |date=1959 |title=The Phaistos Disk II |url= https://www.jstor.org/stable/543423 |journal= Journal of Near Eastern Studies |volume= 18 |issue= 3 |pages= 222–226 |doi= 10.1086/371536 |jstor= 543423 |s2cid= 163120992 |issn= 0022-2968}}</ref> Typesetter and linguist [[Herbert Brekle]] writes:<ref name="brek1997">{{cite magazine |last= Brekle |first= Herbert E. |author-link= Herbert E. Brekle |date= 1997 |title= Das typographische Prinzip. Versuch einer Begriffsklärung |url= http://www.typeforum.de/news_332.htm |url-status= usurped |magazine= [[Gutenberg-Jahrbuch]] |language= de |volume= 72 |pages= 58–63 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110716022750/http://www.typeforum.de/news_332.htm |archive-date= 2011-07-16}}</ref>

{{blockquote|If the disc is, as assumed, a textual representation, we are really dealing with a "printed" text, which fulfills all definitional criteria of the typographic principle. The spiral sequencing of the [[Graphemics|graphematical]] units, the fact that they are impressed in a clay disc (blind printing!) and not imprinted are merely possible technological variants of textual representation. The decisive factor is that the material "types" are proven to be repeatedly instantiated on the clay disc.}}

A medieval example of a similar blind printing technique<ref>
{{oed | blind printing}}
</ref>
is the [[Prüfening dedicatory inscription]] of 1119 AD.<ref name=brek1997/><ref name=brek2005>Herbert E. Brekle (2005): ''Die Prüfeninger Weiheinschrift von 1119. Eine paläographisch-typographische Untersuchung'' ([http://www.typeforum.de/news_308.htm brief summary] {{Webarchive|url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111001051756/http://www.typeforum.de/news_308.htm |date= 2011-10-01  }}), Scriptorium Verlag für Kultur und Wissenschaft, Regensburg, {{ISBN|3-937527-06-0}}</ref>

Popular-science author [[Jared Diamond]] describes the disc as an example of a technological innovation that did not become widespread because it was made at the wrong time in history. Diamond contrasts the process with [[Johannes Gutenberg|Gutenberg]]'s [[printing press]].<ref>
{{Cite book |title= Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Society|first= Jared|last= Diamond |chapter= 13: Necessity's Mother: The evolution of technology|isbn= 978-0-393-03891-0|title-link= Guns, Germs, and Steel|year= 1997|publisher= W. W. Norton & Company}}</ref>

=== Scribed lines ===
Besides the stamped symbols, there are a few markings made by scoring the moist clay with a sharp stylus. On each side there is a continuous spiral line that separates successive turns of the text. The strip between successive spires of this line is divided into sections by short radial lines, so that each section contains a few whole signs. The presumed start of the text, adjacent to the edge, is also marked by such a radial stroke, with the addition of five dots punched along it with the stylus. Finally, under some of the stamped signs, there are short oblique strokes.