This TED presentation featuring Gareth Owens will definitely interest those who have been fortunate enough to visit the Minoan Museum in Iraklion, Crete. Many great minds have struggled to decipher the text on the Phaistos Disc, found by Sir Arthur Evans in the early 1900s at the ruins of Knossos Palace. From this presentation, one learns that only now an understanding of the inscriptions reflects that they represent a form of prayer to a Minoan deity.
Cryptologists will appreciate the references in the discussion to Bletchley Park, Alan Turing, and others as being influential in achieving progress in understanding the language used, tied to the figures inscribed on the Phaistos Disc.
The TED presentation was held at the Cretan Aquarium, located in a refurbished building on the former Iraklion Air Station, just east of Iraklion, Crete.
Click the link above to see the TED presentation on YouTube.
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