Creating the first Europeans: Tracing the development of Sir Arthur Evans's vision of Minoan civilisation through documents and object

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Sir Arthur Evans left an indelible mark on the archaeology of the Bronze Age, particularly atKnossos on Crete. From 1900-1930, he excavated and restored the massive architectural complexof the Palace of Knossos, publishing his findings in a series of five Palace of Minos volumesbetween 1921 and 1935. In his publications, Evans used the evidence gathered to present his visionof the Minoan civilisation as a proto-European, royal society. Modern accounts of Evans by hishalf-sister Joan Evans (1974) and scholars such as Ann Brown (1983), Sylvia Horwitz (1981),Nanno Marinatos (2015), and Ilse Schoep (2018) have acknowledged that Evans's archaeologicaldecisions and interpretations were informed and influenced not only by his careful observation ofthe material culture but also by his own upper class, British worldview. For example, the discoveryof the Throne Room, among other finds, led Evans to envision the complex as a palace-sanctuarywith royal residents and a priest-king comparable to monarchs of the 20th century (Evans1902/1903, 67). Previous research has focused on the overarching development of Evans's visionthrough major finds, but little work has been done to fully analyse the detailed evolution of Evans'stheories in chronological order through the archive records and the Palace of Minos publications.My research within the Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) between the University ofBristol and the Ashmolean Museum will use the Evans Archive and Ashmolean collections tostudy the theories, objects, and archaeological contexts applied in Evans's vision to understandhow his theories evolved from his initial excavation to his final publications and exhibitions. Bycontextualising the progression of Evans's vision, we, as a scholarly community, can trace histheories back to the original archaeological evidence and validate, dismiss, amend, or expand hisinterpretations with modern studies. The outcome of this project will be unlike other studiesbecause it will use both the Archive and Evans's object collection to inform the investigation. Todo so, I will analyse the letters, notebooks, publications, newspapers, and exhibition records of theArchive and the object collections to chronologically trace how Evans's theories changed with theexcavation of different sections, the discovery of new objects, and input from his site-supervisorDuncan Mackenzie. I am particularly interested in comparing Evans's and Mackenzie's notebooks(AE NB) and daybooks because Evans often used Mackenzie's Daybooks (DM DB) when writinghis yearly reports (1900-1906) and Palace of Minos publications (Momigliano 1999). I will alsoaddress how Evans's excavation methods (i.e., recording strategies, artefact curation, restorations,wager-system) prioritised certain types of evidence and how his selections shaped the narrativesurrounding Knossos both at the Ashmolean and at the site. My research questions include: Howdid Evans's ideas change and build off each other between each excavation season and betweenhis initial excavations and final publications? How did his Ashmolean collection represent histheories and how did he use them to convey his vision? How do Evans's theories and excavationmethods impact modern scholarship?