to throw or hurl; fling: The gambler cast the dice. to throw off or away: He cast the advertisement in the wastebasket. to direct (the eye, a glance, etc.), especially in a cursory manner: She cast her eyes down the page.
Linear B, found mainly in the palace archives at Knossos, Cydonia, Pylos, Thebes and Mycenae, disappeared with the fall of Mycenaean civilization during the Late Bronze Age collapse. The succeeding period, known as the Greek Dark Ages, provides no evidence of the use of writing.
The markings on the tablet fragmentâwhich is roughly 1 inch ( 2.5 centimeters) tall by 1.5 inches (4 centimeters) wideâare early examples of a writing system known as Linear B. Used for a very ancient form of Greek, Linear B consisted of about 87 signs, each representing one syllable. (Related: New Layer of Ancient Greek Writings Detected in Medieval Book.) The Mycenaeans appear to have used Linear B to record only economic matters of interest to the ruling elite. Fittingly, the markings on the front of the Iklaina tablet appear to form a verb that relates to manufacturing, the researchers say.