It is, of course, impossible to say as yet to what rank or class
the people thus catalogued may have belonged; but the conjecture
may be hazarded that these lists may be the major-domo's records
of the male and female slaves of the household, or perhaps of the
artisans who appear to have dwelt within the precincts of the palace.
Another type of record is given by tablets such as that represented
in Plate XIV. The tablet contains eight lines of well-written
inscription, and consists apparently of twenty words, divided into
three paragraphs. In this case there are no determinatives and no
numerals; and it is possible that the document may be a contract,
or perhaps an official proclamation.
[Illustration XXXI: KAMARES VASES FROM PHAESTOS AND HAGIA TRIADA
(_pp_. 120 & 197)
_G. Maraghiannis_]
That such tablets were not the only form in which the Minoans executed
the writing of their various documents is evident from the fact
already noticed, that inscriptions have been found executed with a
reed-pen, and, though those extant are written on clay vessels, it
is obvious that the reed-pen was not a very suitable instrument for
writing on such materials, and that its existence presupposes some
substance more adapted to the cursive writing of a pen--parchment,
possibly, or papyrus, which could be readily obtained from Egypt.
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