Biographical

Arthur Evans’ Father was an Archeologist, which may have led to Evans’ discoveries. His father also collected, which may have resulted in Arthur a love of archeology. Evans studied at Oxford gaining a degree in Modern History; Arthur then went on to travel northern and eastern Europe. Evans and his wife, Margaret Freeman, visited Greece in 1883 where Evans then met Heinrich Schliemann, an Archeologist who had been excavating Mycenae and Mycenaen sites.

After this meeting with Schliemann, Evans then went on to announce that he wanted to broaden the variety of artifacts of history beyond the classical, he wanted it to go to the ancient. This happened after he had gained Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum. However, it was not till 1893, after his wife died prematurely, that Evans would visit and make a discovery. Evans bought the sight at Knossos, planning to excavate the site himself. Again he was unable to start the actual excavation until the 23rd of March 1900 due to the political situation going on at that time. Alliance For Lifelong Learning) Days after the excavation began at Knossos, after it became serious, it was apparent that the findings would be worth the effort that went in to getting the excavation site. Among the things that were found was the pottery frescoes and inscribed tables. Perhaps the most tremendous was the excavation of a room on April 13; the throne of King Minos was filled with elaborate paintings and a raised seat with a high back. Upon discovering this entire civilization, Evans named it Minoans after King Minos himself.

It was evident that the Minoans were of great wealth and had a good amount of prosperity. Since Evans’ discovery, any study of the Minoans have been greatly influenced by his initial classification, most importantly the pottery. Evans once remarked “ Any success as an Archeologist I owe to two thing: very short sight, so that I look at everything closely, and being slow on the uptake, so I never leap to conclusions. ” ( Cunningham and Reich Page 20)Evans will never know the influence he had upon archeology nor just how momentous his discoveries were, but he will continue in our minds to be that humble person we seem him as.