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Side A of the Phaistos Disc, Heraklion Archaeological Museum
Side A of the Phaistos Disc, Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Photo: Gleb Simonov · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
Unexplained mysteries · Minoan Crete · c. 1700 BCE

The Phaistos Disc

Unresolved1850 BCE – 1600 BCEPalace of Phaistos, Crete, Greece

A clay disc stamped with symbols — perhaps the world's earliest movable type.

Research draft · editor review pending. Every claim below is linked to a checked source, but this dossier has not yet been reviewed by a human editor. Spot an error? Corrections are logged.

Found in 1908 in the Minoan palace at Phaistos on Crete, the Phaistos Disc is a fired clay disc about 16 cm across, covered on both sides with a spiral of symbols. Unusually, the symbols were not drawn but pressed into the wet clay with stamps, making it an early example of printing with reusable type.

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Connected dossiers

Linear A: The Minoan ScriptSame open question · A related, also undeciphered Minoan script.The Voynich ManuscriptSame open question · Another unique undeciphered text.

See The Phaistos Disc in the discovery universe →

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EstablishedSupported by strong, converging evidence.
ContestedEvidence exists but qualified scholars disagree.
UnresolvedThe question is open; evidence does not settle it.
LegendComes from myth, literature or tradition, not physical evidence.
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Hero image: Side A of the Phaistos Disc, Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Photo: Gleb Simonov · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons. Evidence labels describe the written claims, not the image. Version 1 · updated 2026-10-22.