Sir Arthur John Evans (8 July 1851 – 11 July 1941) was a British archaeologist most famous for unearthing the palace of
KnossosKnossos , also known as Labyrinth, or Knossos Palace, is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political center of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and store rooms close to a central square...
on the
GreekGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
island of
CreteCrete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea at 8,336 km²...
at
KephalaKephala is a hill landform in northern Crete, Greece. This locus was chosen by ancient settlers for the site of the Palace of Knossos; the footprint of the Neolithic settlement at Kephala Hill was actually larger than the Bronze Age Palace of Knossos....
Hill and for developing the concept of "
Minoan civilizationThe Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization which arose on the island of Crete. The Minoan culture flourished from approximately 2700 to 1450 BC; afterwards, Mycenaean Greek culture became dominant at Minoan sites in Crete...
" from the structures and artifacts there and elsewhere in Crete and the eastern Mediterranean. He was the first to define the Cretan scripts,
Linear ALinear A is one of two linear scripts used in ancient Crete before Mycenaean Greek Linear B. In Minoan times, before the Mycenaean Greek dominion, Linear A was the official script for the palaces and cults and Cretan Hieroglyphs were mainly used on seals. These three scripts were discovered and...
and
Linear BLinear B is a script that was used for writing Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek. It predated the Greek alphabet by several centuries and seems to have died out with the fall of Mycenaean civilization. Most of the tablets inscribed in Linear B were found in Knossos, Cydonia, Pylos, Thebes...
as well as an earlier pictographic writing. He and
Heinrich SchliemannHeinrich Schliemann Heinrich Schliemann Heinrich Schliemann was a German businessman and archaeologist, and an advocate of the historical reality of places mentioned in the works of Homer. Schliemann was an important...
are considered the two major pioneers in the study of Aegean civilization in the
Bronze AgeThe Bronze Age of a culture is the period when the most advanced metalworking in that culture utilised bronze. This could either have been based on the local smelting of copper and tin from ores, or trading for bronze from production areas elsewhere...
. Although Schliemann died before Evans got started at Knossos the two men knew of each other. Evans visited Schliemann's sites. Schliemann had planned to excavate at Knossos himself but he reached the end of life before that dream could be fulfilled. Evans immediately bought the site and stepped in to take charge of the project that was then still in its infancy. He continued Schliemann's concept of "Mycenaean civilization" but soon found that he needed to distinguish another civilization — his "Minoan".
Family background
Evans was born in
Nash MillsNash Mills is a civil parish within Hemel Hempstead and Dacorum Borough Council on the northern side of the Grand Union Canal, formerly the River Gade. It takes its name from the mill owned by John Dickinson in the 19th century ....
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the oldest and first child of
John EvansSir John Evans was an English archaeologist and geologist.John Evans was the son of the Rev. Dr A. B. Evans, headmaster of Market Bosworth Grammar School, and was born at Britwell Court, Buckinghamshire...
and Harriet Ann Dickinson, the daughter of John's employer, inventor and founder of Messrs
John DickinsonJohn Dickinson invented a continuous mechanised papermaking process and founded the paper mills at Apsley and Nash Mills in England, which evolved into John Dickinson Stationery Limited...
, a paper mill. Harriet was John's first cousin on his mother's side. John, descendant of a male line that was both educated and kept up a tradition of being intellectually active, was nevertheless undistinguished by either wealth or aristocratic connection. Starting work at the family business in lieu of going to college in 1840, he was made a full partner in 1851 after his marriage. Profits from the mill would eventually fund Arthur's excavations and restorations at Knossos and resulting publications.
While maintaining his status as a chief officer in the company, John became distinguished for his quasi-professional pursuits in numismatics, geology and archaeology. His interest in geology came from an assignment by the company to scientifically study water resources in the area. Streams are often a good source for stone-age artifacts. John had already profited from the education he did have. He knew Latin and could and did quote the authors. In 1859 he conducted a geological survey of the Somme Valley with
Joseph PrestwichJoseph Prestwich FRS, was a British geologist and businessman, known as an expert on the Tertiary Period and for having confirmed the findings of Boucher de Perthes.- Overview :...
and began to collect and study flint implements. He eventually published works on those topics. He joined the Royal Society in 1864, serving as various officers, won the
Lyell MedalThe Lyell Medal is a prestigious annual scientific medal given by the Geological Society of London, equal in status to the Murchison Medal, awarded on the basis of research to an Earth Scientist of exceptional quality...
, and was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1892.
Meanwhile Harriet had a child every year or every other year until she died in 1858 when Arthur was 7. He had acquired two brothers, Norman and
LewisLewis Evans was an English businessman and scientific instrument collector.Lewis Evans was the son of Sir John Evans, an archaeologist, and younger brother the more famous archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans who discovered Knossos in Crete. He studied chemistry at University College London and became...
and two sisters, remaining on excellent terms with all of them all of his life. He was raised by a stepmother, Fanny, with whom he also got along very well. She had no children of her own. Later in life, after the death of Fanny and John's remarriage, they were joined by a half-sister (
JoanDame Joan Evans, DBE was a British historian of French and English mediaeval art.She was the daughter of antiquarian and businessman John Evans and his third wife Maria Millington Lathbury...
) by John's third wife, a classical scholar. John was 70. By the time of John's death in 1908 at 85 and inheritance by Arthur of a share in the wealth the major work on Knossos had already been done mainly with funds other than those from the business. However, Arthur had enjoyed the close support and assistance of his father, who contributed heavily.
Education
Arthur was given every advantage of education. After a childhood stay at Callipers Preparatory School (no longer extant) he attended
Harrow SchoolHarrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London. Harrow has educated boys since 1243 but was officially founded by John Lyon under a Royal Charter of Elizabeth I in 1572....
, becoming co-editor of
The Harrovian in his last year, 1869/70. At Harrow he was friends especially with
Francis Maitland BalfourFrancis Maitland Balfour, known as F. M. Balfour, was a British biologist. He lost his life while attempting the ascent of Mont Blanc...
, with whom he later hiked over
LaplandSápmi is the name of the cultural region traditionally inhabited by the Sámi people. Sápmi is located in Northern Europe and includes the northern parts of Fennoscandia. The region stretches over four countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Sápmi is the name in North Sámi, while the Julev...
and
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
, and who was killed in a mountain-climbing incident on
Mont BlancMont Blanc or Monte Bianco is the highest mountain in the Alps and in Western Europe. It rises above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence...
in 1882. Graduating from Harrow Evans became part of and relied on the Old Harrovian network of acquaintances. Minchin characterized him as "a philologer and wit" as well as an expert on "the eastern question." Arthur continued his father's habit of quoting the appropriate Latin author from memory and knew some poems entirely by heart.
Between 1870 and 1874 Arthur matriculated at
Brasenose CollegeBrasenose College, originally Brazen Nose College , is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom...
,
OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
. His housemaster at Harrow, F. Rendall, had gotten him in with a recommendation that he was "a boy of powerful original mind." At Brasenose he read modern history, but his summertime activities were perhaps more definitive to his subsequent career. In 1871 he and Lewis visited
HallstattHallstatt, Upper Austria is a village in the Salzkammergut, a region in Austria. It is located near the Hallstätter See . At the 2001 census it had 946 inhabitants...
and the Balkans; in 1872 he and Norman adventured in the Carpathians, crossing borders illegally at high altitudes, pistols at the ready. In 1873 he and Balfour tramped over
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
,
FinlandFinland , officially the Republic of Finland
, is a Nordic country and democracy situated in the Fennoscandian region of northern Europe. It borders Sweden on the west, Russia on the east, and Norway on the north, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland...
and
LapplandLappland can refer to:* Lapland, Sweden* Lapland Province, Finland* rather loosely for much of the northern FennoscandiaUnlike the English word "Lapland", the Swedish word is not used to indicate the area specifically inhabited by the Sami people. An old Swedish word for the Sami area under Swedish...
. Everywhere he went he took copious anthropological notes and made numerous drawings of the people, places and artifacts. During the Christmas holidays of 1873 Evans cataloged a coin collection being bequeathed to Harrow by
John Gardner WilkinsonSir John Gardner Wilkinson was a well-known English traveller, writer and pioneer Egyptologist of the 19th century. He is often referred to as "the Father of British Egyptology".-Childhood and education:...
, who was too ill to work on it himself. The headmaster of Harrow had suggested "my old pupil, Arthur John Evans - a remarkably able young man."
In April-July 1875 after failing to obtain a fellowship at Oxford Arthur attended a summer term at the University of Göttingen. He decided not to stay and left there to meet Lewis for another trip to the Balkans. This was the last of his formal education.
Reporter for the Manchester Guardian
After resolving to leave Göttingen, Arthur and Lewis planned an adventure in Bosnia-Herzegovina starting immediately (August, 1875). They knew that the region, a part of the
Ottoman empireThe Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299 to November 1, 1922 The Ottoman Empire or Ottoman State (Ottoman Turkish: دَوْلَتِ عَلِیَّهِ عُثْمَانِیَّه Dawlet-il ʿAliyyat-il ʿOs̠māniyye, Modern Turkish:...
, was under martial law, and that the Christians (mainly the
SerbsSerbs are a South Slavic people living in the Central Europe and the Balkans , between the Balkan- and Carpathian mountains in the east and the Adriatic sea in the west. They are located mainly in Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and, to a lesser extent, in Croatia...
) were in a state of insurrection against the
BosnianBosnians are people who reside in, or come from, Bosnia and Herzegovina. By the modern state definition a Bosnian can be anyone who holds citizenship of the state. This includes, but is not limited to, members of the constituent ethnic groups of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats...
muslim
beyBey is a Turkish title for "chieftain," traditionally applied to the leaders of small tribal groups. In historical accounts, many Turkish, other Turkic and Persian leaders are titled Bey, Beg, Bek, Bay, Baig or Beigh...
s placed over them. Ottoman troops were in the country in support of the beys.
The two young men had no problem with either the Serbs or the Ottomans but they did provoke the neighboring Austro-Hungarian Empire on the border and spent the night in "a wretched cell." Deciding to lodge in a good hotel in
Slavonski BrodSlavonski Brod is a city in Croatia, with a population of 61,823 in 2001. The city was known as Marsonia in the Roman Empire, and as Brod na Savi 1244–1934. Located in the region of Slavonia, it is the centre of Brodsko-Posavska county, and a river port on the Sava river. It is 197 km...
(Arthur's "Brood") because it would have been safer than
Bosanski BrodBosanski Brod is a town and municipality located on the right bank of the river Sava in the northern part of Bosnia and Herzegovina...
across the
Sava RiverThe Sava is a river in southern Europe, a right side tributary of Danube at Belgrade. It is 945 km long and drains 95,719 km² of surface area...
, they were observed by an officer who saw their sketches and concluded they might be Russian spies. Politely invited by two other officers to join the police chief and produce passports, Arthur said "Tell him that we are Englishmen and are not accustomed to being treated in this way." The officers insisted and interrupting the chief at dinner Arthur suggested he should have come to the hotel in person to request the passports. The chief in a somewhat less than civil manner won the argument about whether he had the right to check the passports of Englishmen by inviting them to spend the night in a cell.
Crete excavations
Before Evans began work in Crete, archaeologist Minos Kalokairinos unearthed two of the palace’s storerooms in 1878, but the Turkish government interrupted his work before he could complete excavations. Evans had been deciphering script on seal stones on Crete in 1894 and when the island was declared an independent state in 1900, he purchased the site and began his excavations of the palace ruins. Arthur Evans found 3,000 clay tablets during excavations and worked to transcribe them. From the transcriptions it was clear that the tablets bore traces of more than one script. Evans dated the Linear A Chariot Tablets at Knossos as immediately prior to the catastrophic Minoan civilization collapse of the 15th century BC.
On the basis of the ceramic evidence and stratigraphy, Evans concluded that there was a civilization on Crete before the civilizations recently brought to light by the adventurer-archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann at
MycenaeMycenae , is an archaeological site in Greece, located about 90 km south-west of Athens, in the north-eastern Peloponnese. Argos is 6 km to the south; Corinth, 48 km to the north...
and
TirynsTiryns is a Mycenaean archaeological site in the prefecture of Argolis in the Peloponnese, some kilometres north of Nauplion.-General information:...
. The huge ruin of Knossos spanned and had a maze-like quality to it that reminded Evans of the labyrinth described in Greek
mythologyMythology is the study of myths and or of a body of myths. For example, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece. The term "myth" is often used colloquially to refer to a false story;...
as having been built by King Minos to hide his
monstrous childIn Greek mythology, the Minotaur , as the Greeks imagined him, was a creature with the head of a bull on the body of a man or, as described by Ovid, "part man and part bull." He dwelt at the center of the Cretan Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction built for King Minos of Crete...
. Thus, Evans dubbed the civilization once inhabiting this great palace the
MinoansThe Minoan civilization was a Bronze Age civilization which arose on the island of Crete. The Minoan culture flourished from approximately 2700 to 1450 BC; afterwards, Mycenaean Greek culture became dominant at Minoan sites in Crete...
. By 1903, most of the palace was excavated, bringing to light an advanced city containing with artwork and many examples of writing. Painted on the walls of the palace were numerous scenes depicting bulls, leading Evans to conclude that the Minoans did indeed worship the bull. In 1905 he finished excavations at
KnossosKnossos , also known as Labyrinth, or Knossos Palace, is the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political center of the Minoan civilization and culture. The palace appears as a maze of workrooms, living spaces, and store rooms close to a central square...
.
Scripta Minoa - The source of the Phoenician alphabet
Evans, in his 1901 work
Scripta Minoa, claimed that most of the symbols for the
PhoenicianThe Phoenician alphabet is a continuation of the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, by convention taken to originate around 1050 BCE. Unlike its Canaanite predecessor, the Phoenician alphabet was non-pictorial. It was used for the writing of Phoenician, a Northern Semitic language, used by the civilization...
abjadAn abjad is a type of writing system in which each symbol always or usually stands for a consonant; the reader must supply the appropriate vowel....
are almost identical to the many centuries older, 19th century BC,
Cretan hieroglyphsCretan hieroglyphs are found on artifacts of Bronze Age Minoan Crete . Symbol inventories have been compiled by Evans , Meijer , Olivier/Godart...
.
The basic part of the discussion about Phoenician alphabet in
Scripta Minoa, Vol. 1 takes place in the section
Cretan Philistines and the Phoenician Alphabet, pages 77-94. Modern scholars now see it as a continuation of the
Proto-Canaanite alphabetThe Proto-Canaanite alphabet is a consonantal alphabet of twenty-two acrophonic pictorial glyphs, found in Levantine texts of the Late Bronze Age , by convention taken to last until a cut-off date of 1050 BC, after which it is called Phoenician...
from ca. 1400 BC, adapted to writing a Canaanite (Northwest Semitic) language. The Phoenician alphabet seamlessly continues the Proto-Canaanite alphabet, by convention called Phoenician from the mid 11th century, where it is first attested on incribed bronze arrowheads.
Legacy
Evans was knighted in 1911 for his services to
archaeologyArchaeology or archeology is the science that studies human cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material culture and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, and landscapes...
and is commemorated both at Knossos and at the
Ashmolean MuseumThe Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...
. In 1913 he paid out of his own pocket £100 to double the amount paid with the studentship established jointly by the
University of LondonBased primarily in London, England, United Kingdom, the University of London is a federal mega university made up of 31 affiliates: 19 separate university institutions, and 12 research institutes...
and the
Society of AntiquariesThe Society of Antiquaries of London is the world’s premier Learned Society for heritage. It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London in the United Kingdom, along with the Royal Academy and four other leading Learned Societies; the Linnean Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, the...
in memory of
Augustus Wollaston FranksSir Augustus Wollaston Franks KCB , was an English antiquary.He was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge....
, won that year by
Mortimer WheelerBrigadier Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler CH, CIE, MC, FBA, FSA , was one of the best-known British archaeologists of the twentieth century.-Education and career:...
.
Evans should also be remembered for his own obstinate Creto-centrism which led to unfriendly debate between himself and the mainland archaeologists
Carl BlegenCarl William Blegen was an archaeologist famous for his work on the site of Pylos in modern day Greece and Troy in modern day Turkey. Blegen was professor of classical archaeology at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio...
and
Alan WaceAlan John Bayard Wace was an English archaeologist.Wace was educated at Shrewsbury School and Pembroke College, Cambridge...
.
From 1894 until his death Evans lived on
Boars HillBoars Hill is a hill and community south of Oxford, in the English county of Oxfordshire. In 1974 it was transferred from Berkshire. The community is partly in the civil parish of Sunningwell and partly in the civil parish of Wootton.- History :...
, near Oxford. His house, 'Youlbury', has since been demolished. He had Jarn Mound built (by hand), surrounded by a wild garden, to make work during the depression years. Evans left part of his estate to the
Boy ScoutsThe Scout Association is the World Organization of the Scout Movement recognised Scouting association in the United Kingdom. Scouting began in 1907 through the efforts of Robert Baden-Powell...
and
Youlbury CampYoulbury Scout Activity Centre is one of a number of The Scout Association's National Scout Activity Centres in the United Kingdom and is the oldest permanent Scout campsite in the world .The Centre, which is based near Oxford, is open to Scouts from around the world, and offers many...
is still available for their use.
Publications
Downloadable Google Books.
Downloadable Google Books.
Downloadable Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg.
Sources
- Cottrell, Leonard (1957). The Bull of Minos. An account of the archaeology of Crete for the general reader, with much information about Evans's work.
- Evans, A.J. (1901). Scripta Minoa - Volume 1.
- Evans, A.J. (1952). Scripta Minoa - Volume 2.
- Evans, A.J. (1933). Jarn Mound.
- Hogan, C. Michael (2007} Knossos, The Modern Antiquarian http://www.themodernantiquarian.com/site/10854/knossos.html#fieldnotes
- Markoe, Glenn E.(2000). Phoenicians. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-226135 (hardback).
- Powell, Dilys (1973). The Villa Ariadne. Originally published by Hodder & Stoughton, London.
- Ross, J. (1990). Chronicle of the 20th Century. Chronicle Australia Pty Ltd. ISBN 1872031803.
- MacGillivray, J Alexander (2001). Minotaur - Sir Arthur Evans and the Archaeology of the Minoan Myth. Published by Pimlico, a division of Random House. (Originally published by Jonathan Cape in 2000).
- Arthur Evans - Ancient Illyria: An Archaeological Exploration (Hardcover)