Linear A Sign A703 D

Not securely; one fifth is a catalogue reading. Unicode's chart labels it one fifth, while a 2021 mathematical reconstruction favors one sixth for the sign catalogued as D. Here, D is a cataloguing label, not a decoded sound or word. The reconstruction tests candidate fraction systems against recorded quantities, but damaged totals prevent a firm value.

What did Linear A use this mark for?

It marked fractions in records of goods and quantities. Linear A was a Bronze Age script used on Crete. Clay accounting tablets track goods entering or leaving storerooms; fraction marks appear beside numerals and commodity signs to record amounts. The script also appears on inscribed stone offering vessels from sanctuaries.

Linear A records are attested from the 18th century BCE. The script is generally understood as a local Cretan creation, influenced in part by writing principles used in the Near East.

How does Linear A connect to other scripts?

Cretan Hieroglyphic overlapped with it; Linear B later adapted it. Cretan Hieroglyphic and Linear A were both used on Crete during the 18th to 17th centuries BCE. Their syllable signs differ, while similar number and fraction marks point to bookkeeping exchange. Linear B later adapted many Linear A shapes to write Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek; it used separate measurement signs rather than Linear A's number-and-fraction notation.