The tablet was uncovered in the Archive room othe Mycenaean palace at Englianos (Pylos). It is leaf-shaped and was found in three pieces, two of which have been burnt. This document consists of three lines of text, separated by two horizontal lines, and was read from left to right. It uses syllabic characters together with ideograms of vases. The text lists cooking vessels, such as the grill (eschara, e-ka-ra), bowl (phiale, pi-je-ra), brazier (pyraustro, pu-ra-u-to-ro) and shovel (cho[s]teria, ko-te-ri-ja), among which the tripod (tripous, ti-ri-po), gives this tablet its name.

Linear B script was in use during the 14th and the 13th cents. BC and forms tre most important source of information for the Mycenaean period. It was deciphered I 1952 by Michael Ventris, an English architect, in cooperation with the classisist John Chadwick. The identification of the ideograms to the corresponding ancient greek words, proved that Linear B was a primitive form of ancient greek.

Clay Linear B tablets have been revealed in the archives of the myceneaean palaces, which were the administrative, financial and religious centres of a broader area, in Crete (Knossos, Chania) and mainland Greece (Mycenae, Pylos, Tiryns, Thebes).