This paper investigates a series of glyptic inscriptions attested on Crete at the end of the third and beginning of the second millennium BC, collectively referred to as the ‘Archanes Script’. These minute engravings are considered to represent the earliest appearance of writing west of Egypt, and the first ‘true’writing in the Aegean. Thoughmentioned in passing in almost every study of Bronze Age Aegean writing, few scholars have ever offered a definition of what exactly they consider the ‘Archanes Script’ to be. No work or scholarly consensus exists delineating which signs constitute its signary, or even which documents comprise its corpus. Study of the seals as objects in their own right, examining script signs alongside associated iconography, material qualities and form, has been rare. This paper offers the first complete overview and redefinition of the Archanes Script since its discovery in the 1960s and initial definition by Paul Yule in 1980.

中文翻译：

---

第一个“欧洲”著作：重新定义奥术脚本

本文研究了在公元前三千年末和公元前二千年初在克里特岛上证明的一系列刻骨铭文，统称为“ Archanes Script”。这些细刻的雕刻被认为代表了埃及西部最早的书写形式，也是爱琴海地区最早的“真实”书写形式。尽管在几乎所有关于青铜时代爱琴海著作的研究中都提到了这一点，但很少有学者提供过关于他们认为“神秘剧本”的确切定义。没有任何工作或学术共识可以描述哪些符号构成其签名，甚至哪些文档构成其语料库。很少单独研究印章作为对象，检查脚本标志以及相关的图像，材料质量和形式。