Sir Arthur Evans and His Grand Vision
... major excavation, he was amazed to find he had uncovered a complex palace with a maze-like design filled with many pieces of pottery and portions of wall paintings. His discoveries led him to believe that he had found a major complex civilization that probably dated back to as early as 7000 B.C. and was once the home of the mythical King Minos, thus leading to his naming of the ancient people as Minoan. Evans’ goal from the start was to restore the palace at Knossos as much as accurately possible so that he could provide tourists with a glimpse at what life could have been like for these ancient people many thousands of years ago. Instead of just preserving the ruins and having people who were not experts try and analyze the many parts to the palace of Minos, Evans wanted people to see the palace as it once could have been like at the prime of the civilization. Thus his long process of restoration and conservation of the site began. Evans began to add in walls and roofs to preserve certain portions of the palace, he restored and created replicas of frescos on the walls, he restored key parts of the structure by adding iron girders and reinforced concrete, and planted trees around the palace to create a landscape. Evans was harshly criticized by many scholars and archaeologists for the extent of the restorations. Some said it was stripping the site of its pureness, while others mentioned the inaccuracy of many of his restorations. Some of the restorations Evans made were in fact inaccurate. For example, the positions of some of the frescoes were off, the stone columns that were originally built of wood were added in stone, and there was the addition of extra stories in places that were known to be single-storied. However inaccurate some of the palace restorations may be, the main idea of the palace is still intact. The subject of much of the frescoes is as it once was, relating to maritime subjects, bulls, religious depictions, and children playing. The material used in some of the buildings may not all be the same as the original, but it still captures the post-and-lintel style of architecture used in the making. The use of a single column instead of multiple ones is also maintained in the restorations (Biers 29). Thus evidently the main elements of the architecture and art of the palace have been kept pretty accurate. The things that may be inaccurate are truly minor in the major scope of things. Evans has contributed much to modern archaeology through his excavation and restoration of the palace at Knossos. He has given humanity a look into its ancient past and enabled people to observe and study one of the earliest complex societies in man’s history. His findings have included the introduction of two new types of script including the earliest form of written Greek, linear A and linear B. In addition to this, the site of Knossos has provided a visual image associated with many ancient Greek myths and a detailed glimpse at what the palace may have looked like at the height of the Minoan civilization.. It is for these reasons so many people flock to Crete annually to visit the site Evans excavated. Knossos is the second most frequented destination in Greece and over half a million people a year go there to see the palace and experience what Evans has creatively helped to make a world of its own (Papadopoulos 100). With all the attention Knossos gets from tourism, it can be said that a large part of the reason is because Evans restored the palace so well. The way he has restored the palace and given life to the site with the trees and the many frescos, makes it a more attract...