The Temple Repositories of Knossos: new information from the unpublished notes of Sir Arthur Evans

Abstract

A set of notes found in the Ashmolean Museum Archives, unknown until now, and written by Sir Arthur Evans, has provided the basis for this paper. In them, Evans made annotated drawings of the most important objects recovered from the Temple Repositories of the Palace at Knossos, as well as of the Repositories themselves. Some ideas and issues developed in Evans's subsequent publications can be traced in their first forms in these notes. It is very significant that next to each drawing Evans wrote a figure, evidently the total of similar objects—something he did not do to such an extent in the publications. The section dealing with the sealings may reveal their actual number, as well as a certain confusion between the actual impressed surfaces and the sealings themselves. Reproductions of Evans's pages, transcriptions, and the author's comments on important points make up the bulk of the article. A more complete and enlarged corpus of the objects is now feasible; here an abbreviated catalogue of the newly identified objects is appended.