In April 1994 members of the Antiquities Service excavated a prehistoric building at the site of Kafkania, near Olympia. The building had been destroyed by a fire which left a thick undisturbed deposit containing pottery of the advanced MH period and a small circular pebble with incised Linear B signs on both sides. On one side the signs form a personal name (Kharops or Kharopos) known from later tablets from Knossos and Pylos and a trade name, also found on a tablet from Pylos. The other side bears a double axe framed by two signs whose meaning is not clear. The finding shows that the Linear B script had been invented and was used for the Greek language already around the middle of the 17th century b.C., before the Grave Circle period.
Περιγράφεται μικρή επιγραφή σε γραμμική Β γραφή που βρέθηκε χαραγμένη σε κροκόλη και χρονολογείται περίπου τον 17ο αιώνα π.Χ.
Το εύρυμα αυτά αποδεικνύει ότι ήδη από την εποχή αυτή η γραμμική Β χρησιμοποιείται στον ελληνικό χώρο.
