The Palace of Minos: A Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilisation as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos

Abstract

THE excavations at Knossos were described by Sir Arthur Evans in detailed reports which appeared in the Annual of the British School at Athens from 1900 to 1905, and were reviewed from time to time in these columns. For years afterwards he and his adjutant, Dr. Mackenzie, were engaged in supplementary work, which involved much digging, in addition to the laboratory processes of cleaning, restoring, and classifying an enormous mass of finds. The history of successive rebuildings was unravelled, and the sequence of pottery-types verified by new trial-pits. Meanwhile discoveries on other sites have filled gaps and supplied chronological data, so that the rise of Cretan civilisation can be correlated step by step with that of Egypt. The magnificent volume before us is the first of three in which Sir Arthur Evans proposes to embody his mature conclusions; it covers two of the three main periods into which he divides the Cretan Bronze, Age, and the introduction includes an outline sketch of the whole course of Minoan culture. Much of the material, as of the interpretation, is new. The book is abundantly illustrated, with plans and sections by Mr. Theodore Fyfe and Mr. C. C. T. Doll, drawings by the two Gillierons, Mr. Halvor Bagge, and Mr. C. T. Lambert, and many excellent photographs, Even more impressive than the extent of the excavation is the skill with which it has been carried through. One wishes that this enterprise, to which the author has so long devoted his private fortune and his unrivalled insight into prehistoric problems, had been more liberally backed by public subscription. The Palace of Minos: A Comparative Account of the Successive Stages of the Early Cretan Civilisation as Illustrated by the Discoveries at Knossos. By Sir Arthur Evans. Vol. 1, The Neolithic and Early and Middle Minoan Ages. Pp. xxiv + 721 + 18 plates+plans, etc. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd., 1921.) 6 guineas.