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Sir Arthur Evans and the excavations at Knossos
Arthur Evans holding Minoan vase.
While
serving as Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford (1884-1908),
Evans became interested in seals (tiny carved stones) from Crete which
contained undeciphered early inscriptions. In 1895 Evans
published Cretan Pictographs and
Prae-Phoenician Script, identifying both the
enigmatic Minoan hieroglyphs and the syllabic or
pre-alphabetic scripts, now called Linear A and B.
Evans began large-scale, systematic excavations at Knossos in 1900, and by the end of 1903 had uncovered many of the foundations of the large, sprawling structures he designated as the Palace (now mainly identified with the New Palace constructions of the Middle Minoan IIIb period).
Evans restored many of the now famous rooms within the palace, such as the Throne Room, with its pair of griffins in a fresco flanking a gypsum stone seat. His restoration methods have been often criticized for over-interpretation of sometimes scanty remains. Numerous examples of the now famous frescoes, discovered mainly as small fragments, were also boldly restored.
Evans published his monumental work entitled The Palace of Minos at Knossos in four volumes (1921-1935). In his site interpretations (now much disputed), Evans drew heavily from post-Bronze Age, ancient Greek mythology to postulate the site as the palace of the legendary Minos, king of the Cretan Minoans whose labyrinth contained the mythic Minotaur. Evans interpreted the complex layout of the palace at Knossos as "labyrinthine," and connected this with the double-axe symbol or labrys found engraved on columns at the palace.
Besides his pioneering work in excavating the main palace site, among Evans' most significant discoveries at Knossos was the recovery of about 3000 ancient Linear A and B writing tablets. Linear B eventually proved to be an early form of ancient Greek from a later, Mycenaean occupation of the site. Linear A, a script representing the language of the Minoans, still remains largely undeciphered.
[Source: "Sir Arthur Evans and the Excavation of the Palace at Knossos," Athena Review, v3 no.3, 2003]
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