Nor were there giant Linear B texts written across rock faces or palace walls, which might have reminded people that there was this valuable skill called writing. Instead, Linear B led a hidden life inside the palaces. And when the palaces fell, it had no other niche where it could survive. As Steele concludes: "If literacy is restricted, it might be easier for a writing system to die out if its context of use disappears." These insights from the past may help us solve pressing problems in the present, she argues, such as saving modern-day endangered writing systems.
