Sir Arthur Evans discovered the first Linear B tablets on Crete in 1939.
Linear B is a system of writing found at Knossos, on Crete, and elsewhere on the Greek mainland. It was used for writing by around 1400 B.C., on clay tablets and engraved in stone. Michael Ventris and John Chadwick deciphered much of the script in the early 1950s. It is thought to be the writing system used by the Mycenaeans, replacing Linear A, which has not yet been deciphered.
Numbers in Linear B use the decimal system.
Linear B is mostly syllabic, not alphabetic.
The symbols are not too hard to learn, and make a great secret code. For example, my name in fake Linear B code could be Qe-qa-Ri-Za-Ro-Da, or geeklizzard. You have to pronounce the syllables to figure out the code, though.
The Linear B syllabary is as follows:
A E I O U
Da De Di Do Du
Ja Je Jo Ju
Ka Ke Ki Ko Ku
Ma Me Mi Mo Mu
Na Ne Ni No Nu
Pa Pe Pi Po Pu
Qa Qe Qi Qo
Ra Re Ri Ro Ru
Sa Se Se So Su
Ta Te Ti To Tu
Wa We Wi Wo
Za Ze Zo
Ha
Ai Au
Dwe Dwo
Nwa
Phu
Pte
Rja
Rai
Rjo
Twe Two