LYCOS RETRIEVER
Arthur Evans: Sir Arthur Evans
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The Arthur Evans archive website is part of the Oxford Digital Library and publishes the papers and drawings that Sir Arthur Evans, keeper of the Ashmolean Museum (1884-1908) left to the museum at his death. Many plans and other drawings of architectural structures are of great archaeological importance because they document the findings and contexts with greater detail than in the published plans. Several drawings of frescoes ... document the original state of preservation and intermediate states of restoration of many frescoes that are otherwise known only in their restored state. Many drawings were authored by collaborators of Sir Arthur Evans. In addition to the palace of Knossos, they depict structures and artefacts found at Isopata; Zafer Papoura; Aghia Triadha; and Mycenae. The database can be browsed or searched and for each record it is given the original author, dimensions, eventual publication and other essential information.
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Driven by a passion for Greek mythology, Sir Arthur Evans was one of the 20th century’s most celebrated archaeologists. An early champion of the Scout Movement, his decision to build a home at Youlbury would later lead to a Scout Activity Centre and a lasting Scouting legacy. Chris James discovers the man behind the myth
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During the neo-palatial period a new script emerges on the island which, owing to its features, Sir Arthur Evans described as Linear A. This script appears on the Phaestos Disk discovered by the Italian School of Archaeology in 1908. The script on this disk has been scrutinized extensively for clues as to the kind of language it represents. The symbols seem to have been impressed on the disk and are arranged in a spiral form. Linguists describe the Phaestus Disk as unique.
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Sir Arthur Evans, assisted by Duncan Mackenzie, excavated the Minoan palace at Knossos, Crete, from 1900 onward. He used the conventional low-tech methods of his age. Evans was not an experienced archaeologist but, as the son of prehistorian John Evans, he knew the importance of controlled excavation and careful recording. However, he was happy to make assumptions about his site, giving rooms in the place names such as the Queen's megaron ("throne room") without any real archaeological evidence to support his claim. Evans discovered the earliest literate society in Europe, and gave a name to early Cretan civilization -- Minoan after the legendary King Minos.
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Arthur Evans was born in 1851 in Hertfordshire England, the son of Sir John Evans, one of the fathers of prehistoric archaeology, and was brought up among archaeologists and antiquarians. He possessed an unusual amount of toughness and discipline, having served as war correspondent for the Manchester Guardian in Bosnia during the 1870’s. While in London in 1878, he saw an exhibition of Schliemann’s material from Troy and visited him in Athens five years later. A distinguished scholar, he was curator of the Ashmolean Museum from 1884 to 1908 and became extraordinary professor of prehistoric archaeology at Oxford in 1909. He visited Crete for the first time in 1894 where he met with Minos Kalokairinos and visited the site of Knossos. Three years later he purchased the land on which the site of Knossos was located and spent the rest of his life excavating its remains and interpreting them.
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Although best known as an eminent classical archaeologist, Sir Arthur Evans was ... passionately interested in the history of Albania. An authority on ancient Illyria, his sophisticated sense of the region’s ancient roots infused his understanding of the complex culture and politics of the Balkans in the 19th century and combined to make him an authoritative and entertaining guide to this important subject.
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