disk of Phestos archeological museum of Heraklion

Is the Mystery of the Phaistos Disc Solved?

    The first ever CD-ROM, the Phaistos Disc, is believed to have been unscrambled by researchers of the Technological Education Institute of Crete, Greece. According to Dr. Gareth Owens, the disc “stores” a prayer to a mother. Specifically, Dr. Owens thinks that one side is dedicated to a pregnant woman and the other to a woman giving birth.

    The Phaistos Disc has 241 tokens, made up of 45 unique signs,  and experts have been trying to read them for almost a century. The Disc is six inches (15 cm) in diameter and is covered in a spiral of stamped signs on both sides.

    Dr. Owens believes he has identified the keywords “pregnant mother” and “lady of great importance.” To come up with his theory, he had to look at groupings of signs found on three parts of one side of the disc. They spell out “I-QE-KU-RJA” and Dr. Owens said that “I-QE” means “lady of great importance.” On the other side of the double-sided disc, he identified the word “AKKA,” which, he said, means “pregnant mother.”

    Source: Greek Reporter

    The Phaistos Disc is one of the key exhibits in the Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Crete

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