Home > Arthur Evans

Sir Arthur John Evans ( July 8, 1851 - July 11, 1941), brought into the light of day the civilization he dubbed "Minoan," which had been a dim mythic memory. He was the son of Sir John Evans, a paper manufacturer and amateur archaeologist of Welsh descent. Educated at Harrow and Brasenose College, University of Oxford and the University of Göttingen and having inherited his father's interest in archaeology, Arthur was curator of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford 1884 - 1908.

His special interest was the Greek islandAdriatic sea An island is any piece of land smaller than a continent and larger than a rock, that is completely surrounded by water. Very small islands are called islets . Although seldom adhered to, it is also proper to call an emergent land feature on a of CreteCrete sometimes spelled Krete (Greek Kappa;ρτ&eta / Kriti) is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean Sea. It is the Greek island closest to North Africa. Tourist attractions in Crete include archeological sites, and he was largely responsible for the excavationSouthwark, London by the Museum of London Excavation is the best-known and most commonly used technique within the science of archaeology. Individual excavations are normally referred to simply as "digs" by those who participate, this being an over-literas of the palace-city of KnossosKnossos (alternative spellings Knossus Cnossus Gnossus Greek ) is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete, probably the ceremonial and political center of the Minoan culture. Knossos, also known by its romantic name of the Palace of Minos, was, chief center of the Minoan civilizationThe Minoans were an ancient civilization on what is now Crete (in the Mediterranean), during the Bronze Age, prior to classical Greek culture. The Minoans were primarily a mercantilist people engaged in overseas trade. Many historians and archaeologists b, which uncovered the site that is open to visitors today. Not only did he discover these remains and publish them in four volumes The Palace of Minos at Knossos (1921 - 1935), a classic of archaeology, but he substantially restored and partially reconstructed them, using some foreign materials like concrete that are offensive to purists but help the average visitor "read" the site. Thus, though the results may be disturbing to modern scholars, his motives were of the best. It should be remembered that while Evans was working at Knossos in the period between 1899Events January events January 1 End of Spanish rule in Cuba. January 1 Queens and Staten Island merge with New York City. January 3 The first known use of the word " automobile", in an editorial in the New York Times''. January 6 Lord Curzon becomes a vic and 1935Events January January 1 Italian colonies of Tripoli and Kyrenaika are joined together as Libya January 7 World War II: Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French foreign minister Pierre Laval conclude agreement in which each power undertakes not to oppo, many of his contemporaries were interested only in removing items of interest from the sites they uncovered.

Though deciphering and translating the scripts found on the site always eluded him, he recognized that they were in two scripts, which he dubbed "Linear A'" and " Linear BLinear B is the script that was used for writing Mycenaean, an early form of the Greek language. It occurrs primarily on tablets dated from the 14th and 13th centuries BC. The script was derived from an earlier script ( Linear A) used for writing the Mino."

Evans was knighted in 1911 for his services to archaeology, and is commemorated both at Knossos and at the Ashmolean Museum. The excavation at the site of Knossos (which he purchased in order to preserve it), has been continued to the present day by the British School of Archaeology, Athens.