Collecting for Cambridge: John Hubert Marshall on Crete

Abstract

In 1901 excavations were conducted under the auspices of the Cretan Exploration Fund at Praisos and Kato Zakro in eastern Crete. One of the members of the party was John Hubert Marshall, formerly of King's College, Cambridge. During his journey to and from the excavations, and described in the correspondence of Robert Carr Bosanquet, Marshall seems to have acquired antiquities from a number of sites which were purchased by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge later in the year. This material included antiquities from Palaikastro which was to be become the scene of major excavations by the British School at Athens. Marshall was awarded a Craven Studentship at the British School at Athens in 1901, but in February 1902 was appointed Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India. It was Marshall's experience of excavation on Crete which was to influence the development of archaeological fieldwork in India.