Arthur Evans
Arthur Evans entered the world on the 8th of July 1851 at Nash Mills in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. His father John Evans ran a paper mill business founded by his maternal uncle John Dickinson. The family lived in a brick terraced house known locally as the red house because it lacked the sooty patina of neighboring buildings. Harriet Ann Dickinson, Arthur's mother, was the daughter of the mill owner and became his wife in 1850. They moved into her childhood home in 1856, a mansion with a garden where their children could run free.
John Evans maintained his position as an officer in the company while pursuing distinguished work in numismatics and geology. He studied diminishing water resources to protect the mill from lawsuits involving canals that consumed large amounts of water. This geological expertise made him a legal consultant for the firm. In 1859 he conducted a geological survey of the Somme Valley alongside Joseph Prestwich. The elder Evans published numerous books and articles on antiquities before dying in 1908 at age eighty-five.
Harriet died after childbirth in 1858 when Arthur was seven years old. He had two brothers named Lewis and Philip Norman and two sisters named Harriet and Alice. A stepmother named Fanny raised him along with his siblings. She predeceased her husband but they got along very well. His father later married Maria Millington Lathbury, a classical scholar who bore him a daughter Joan in 1873. Joan would become an art historian.
In June 1871 Arthur Evans visited Hallstatt with his brother Lewis. His father had excavated there in 1866 and added artifacts to his collection. They traveled through Paris and Amiens shortly after the Franco-Prussian War concluded. Prussian troops occupied Amiens and Evans wore a dark cape which border guards ordered him to remove lest they shoot him as a spy. He hunted for stone-age artifacts in gravel quarries while the Germans focused on souvenir hunting.
The following year he and his brother Norman entered Ottoman territory in the Carpathians during a period of political tension. They crossed borders illegally at high altitudes with revolvers ready. Evans purchased a set of clothes belonging to a wealthy Turkish man including a red fez and baggy trousers. Fraser's Magazine published his enthusiastic account in May 1873. In 1875 he and Lewis planned to spy against Montenegro from the village of Bobovo.
On the 15th of August 1875 Ottoman authorities expelled them from Pljevlja during the Herzegovina uprising. They boarded a ship in Dubrovnik after traveling through triple mountain ranges. The brothers spent a night in a wretched cell in Slavonski Brod when Austro-Hungarian officers suspected them of being Russian spies. Evans threatened the authorities in the name of the British fleet and demanded the mayor appear personally. A crowd followed them to the holding cell where Evans harangued them despite understanding only German. Dr Makanetz leader of the National Party of the Croatian Assembly intervened and secured their release.
Evans organized grand inaugurations outlining his plans to transform the facility into an archaeology museum. He published these changes as The Ashmolean as a Home of Archaeology in Oxford. The great frontage building already existed so he directed efforts toward acquiring Fortnum's collections. He insisted artifacts be transferred back to the museum and later gave his father's collections to the institution. Today the Ashmolean holds the finest Minoan assemblages outside Crete.
He delivered the Ilchester Lectures for 1884 on the Slavonic conquest of Illyricum though they remained unpublished. His tenure included managing complex negotiations for the Fortnum collection which he excelled at handling. The strategy involved converting the space from natural history to art and archaeology while expanding remaining collections. Evans held this role until resigning in 1908 to focus on writing up his Minoan work.
Margaret Freeman died on the 11th of March 1893 in Alassio Italy after experiencing painful spasms for two hours. She was forty-five years old while Arthur was forty-two. Her death left him with emotional devastation that changed the course of his life forever. He never married again and wrote on black-bordered stationery for the rest of his days. Margaret had been his wife since
1878 when they married near her family home in Wookey Somerset.
Evans built a mansion called Youlbury on Boars Hill in Berkshire against his father's advice who deemed it wasteful. He cut the tops of pines eight feet from the ground to build a platform and log cabin as temporary quarters. Apparently she never lived there because they spent winters away from Oxford. After her death he wandered aimlessly around Liguria before returning to live a hermit-like existence in the cabin he had built for her.
The estate included Jarn Mound and its surrounding wild garden which he constructed during the Great Depression to provide work for local out-of-work laborers. The mound and garden now held by the Oxford Preservation Trust features species from around the world. Evans left part of his estate to the Boy Scouts and Youlbury Camp remains available for their use today.
In March 1900 Arthur Evans began excavating the flower-covered hill at Knossos on Crete. He hired two foremen who in turn employed thirty-two diggers to uncover what he called the Palace of Minos. Within months they revealed a substantial portion of an intricate collection of over one thousand interlocking rooms serving as artisans' workrooms and food processing centers. The site spanned acres and possessed
a maze-like quality reminiscent of Greek mythology.
Evans concluded that another civilization existed on Crete before those brought to light by Heinrich Schliemann at Mycenae. He dubbed this civilization the Minoan civilisation after King Minos whose labyrinth hid the Minotaur half-man half-bull creature. By 1903 most of the palace was excavated revealing artwork and writing examples. Painted walls depicted bulls leading him to believe the Minoans worshipped them.
He finished excavations in 1905 and had Swiss artists Émile Gilliéron père and fils repaint the throne room based on archaeological evidence. Some famous frescoes were almost complete inventions according to critics. Evans used the Cretan Exploration Fund modeled after the Palestine Exploration Fund to acquire the site. Owners would not sell to individuals but sold to a fund which he effectively controlled alone.
During his excavations Evans found three thousand clay tablets which he transcribed and organized into Scripta Minoa. As some tablets are now missing these transcriptions remain the only source for marks on the originals. He perceived two different mutually exclusive writing systems later termed Linear A and Linear B. The A script appeared to have preceded the B system.
Evans dated the Linear B
Chariot Tablets immediately prior to the catastrophic collapse of the Minoan civilisation in the fifteenth century BC. One thesis from his 1901 Scripta Minoa claimed symbols for the Phoenician alphabet were nearly identical to centuries older Cretan hieroglyphs from the nineteenth century BC. Modern scholars view the Phoenician alphabet as continuing Proto-Canaanite adapted to Northwest Semitic language around fourteen hundred BC.
Linear B turned out to be Greek despite decades of theories while Linear A remains undeciphered. His classifications and careful transcriptions proved valuable to Mycenaean scholars even though he could not fully decode either script. He announced conclusions about a Mycenaean hieroglyphic script containing approximately sixty characters shortly after purchasing seal stones inscribed with mysterious writing before Margaret's death.
He served as International Member of American Philosophical Society starting in 1913 and foreign member of Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences beginning in 1918. The Ashmolean Museum holds the largest collection of Minoan artifacts outside Greece commemorating his work at Knossos. A bronze bust stands at Knossos itself honoring his contributions.
From 1894 until his death on the 11th of July 1941
Evans lived in Youlbury which has since been demolished. In 1913 he paid £100 to double a studentship fund established jointly by University London and Society Antiquaries. Mortimer Wheeler won that year's award. His legacy includes influencing modern museum curation practices and establishing foundational theories about Aegean Bronze Age civilizations.
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Common questions
When was Arthur Evans born and where did he live as a child?
Arthur Evans entered the world on the 8th of July 1851 at Nash Mills in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. His family lived in a brick terraced house known locally as the red house before moving into her childhood home in 1856.
What happened to Arthur Evans during his travels through Ottoman territory in 1873 and 1875?
Ottoman authorities expelled him from Pljevlja on the 15th of August 1875 during the Herzegovina uprising after he and his brother Lewis planned to spy against Montenegro. They were detained in Slavonski Brod when Austro-Hungarian officers suspected them of being Russian spies until Dr Makanetz secured their release.
How did the death of Margaret Freeman change the life of Arthur Evans?
Margaret Freeman died on the 11th of March 1893 in Alassio Italy leaving him with emotional devastation that changed the course of his life forever. He never married again and wrote on black-bordered stationery for the rest of his days.
When did Arthur Evans begin excavating Knossos and what civilization did he identify there?
Arthur Evans began excavating the flower-covered hill at Knossos on Crete in March 1900. He concluded another civilization existed on Crete before those brought to light by Heinrich Schliemann at Mycenae and dubbed this civilization the Minoan civilisation after King Minos.
What writing systems did Arthur Evans discover and how are they classified today?
Evans found three thousand clay tablets which he transcribed into Scripta Minoa and perceived two different mutually exclusive writing systems later termed Linear A and Linear B. Linear B turned out to be Greek despite decades of theories while Linear A remains undeciphered.
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51 references cited across the entry
- 1harvnbEvans (1921) p. 1Evans — 1921
- 4journalSir John Evans, K.C.B., 1823–1908A.G. — Royal Society of London — December 1908
- 5harvnbMacGillivray (2000) p. 21MacGillivray — 2000
- 6harvnbMacGillivray (2000) p. 22MacGillivray — 2000
- 7harvnbMacGillivray (2000)MacGillivray — 2000
- 8webSir John Evans's Family Life – ChildrenUniversity of Oxford, Ashmolean Museum — 2009
- 9bookThe Harrow School Register, 1801–1900MG Dauglish — Longmans, Green & Co — 1901
- 10bookOld Harrow daysJames George Cotton Minchin — Methuen Co — 1898
- 11harvnbCottrell (1958) p. 84–85Cottrell — 1958
- 12harvnbCottrell (1958) p. 86Cottrell — 1958
- 13harvnbMacGillivray (2000) p. 40–41MacGillivray — 2000
- 14harvnbBrown (1993) p. 11–19Brown — 1993
- 15bookSir Gardner Wilkinson and His CircleJason Thompson — University of Texas Press — 1992
- 16harvnbMacGillivray (2000) p. 42MacGillivray — 2000
- 17harvnbCottrell (1958) p. 92Cottrell — 1958
- 18harvnbMacGillivray (2000) p. 43MacGillivray — 2000
- 19harvnbEvans (1876) p. 80–81Evans — 1876
- 20harvnbEvans (1876) p. 82–84Evans — 1876
- 21harvnbEvans (1876) p. 235Evans — 1876
- 22harvnbGere (2009) p. 63Gere — 2009
- 23webExcelsior Hotel, DubrovnikColin W — Panoramio
- 24harvnbBrown (1993) p. 26–27Brown — 1993
- 25bookGrof Čedomilj Mijatović: Viktorijanac među SrbimaSlobodan G. Marković — Pravni fakultet Univerziteta u Beogradu, Dositej — 2006
- 26harvnbCottrell (1958) p. 93Cottrell — 1958
- 27encyclopediaOxford Men and their Colleges 1890–92
- 28bookTime and Chance: The Story of Arthur Evans and His ForebearsJoan Evans — Longmans, Green and Co. — 1943
- 29journalHercules and the Hydra: C.D.E. Fortnum, Evans and the Ashmolean MuseumBen Thomas — 1999
- 30harvnbEvans (1884)Evans — 1884
- 32harvnbMacGillivray (2000) p. 101MacGillivray — 2000
- 33harvnbCottrell (1958) p. 97Cottrell — 1958
- 34harvnbMacGillivray (2000) p. 106MacGillivray — 2000
- 35harvnbMacGillivray (2000) p. 107MacGillivray — 2000
- 36harvnbMacGillivray (2000) p. 107–108MacGillivray — 2000
- 37harvnbMacGillivray (2000) p. 91–100MacGillivray — 2000
- 38harvnbMacGillivray (2000) p. 116MacGillivray — 2000
- 39bookDeath and Exile: The Ethnic Cleansing of Ottoman MuslimsJustin McCarthy — Darwin Press — 1995
- 40bookKnossos and the Prophets of ModernismCathy Gere — University of Chicago Press — 2010
- 41bookGreat Cities of the World 3: Next Stop... AthensMarilyn J. Salomon — The Symphonette Press — 1974
- 43bookScripta Minoa – Volume 1A.J. Evans — Oxford — 1909
- 44journalArthur John Evans. 1851–1941J. L. Myres — 1941
- 45webSir Arthur EvansAshmolean Museum, University of Oxford — 2012
- 47webAPS Member History
- 48webA.J. Evans (1851 - 1941)Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 49newsWhitehall, July 8, 191111 July 1911
- 50newspaper the timesUniversity intelligence28 June 1901