Layered Administrative Writing Systems: A Comparative Structural Hypothesis from Linear B to the Voynich Manuscript

A number of ancient writing systems resist full linguistic decipherment despite exhibiting strong internal regularities. This paper proposes a comparative structural hypothesis based on four systems representing different stages of decipherment: Linear B, Linear A, Proto-Elamite, and the Voynich Manuscript. While Linear B is fully deciphered and Linear A and Proto-Elamite are only partially understood, all three are known to contain a clearly separable numerical and administrative layer distinct from textual signs. Using a consistent, language-agnostic framework based on functional segregation of signs (textual, numerical, metrological, and reset markers), this study quantitatively evaluates structural conformity across representative samples from each system. The results show a gradual decrease in conformity as linguistic knowledge decreases: approximately 90% for Linear B, 85% for Linear A, and 75% for Proto-Elamite. Applying the same framework to selected astronomical and diagrammatic sections of the Voynich Manuscript yields approximately 70% conformity, significantly exceeding random expectation. These findings support the hypothesis that the Voynich Manuscript may belong to the same functional class of layered administrative writing systems as the other three scripts, rather than constituting a purely alphabetic or linguistic cipher. The study makes no semantic claims and is explicitly falsifiable. It is offered as a methodological contribution aimed at improving structural analysis of undeciphered writing systems.