Evans, Sir Arthur

Evans, Sir Arthur (John)

(born July 8, 1851, Nash Mills, Hertfordshire, Eng.—died July 11, 1941, Youlbury, near Oxford, Oxfordshire) British archaeologist. Son of the archaeologist Sir John Evans, he served as a curator (1884–1908) at Oxford's Ashmolean Museum. Beginning in 1899 he devoted several decades to excavating the ruins of the ancient city of Knossos in Crete, uncovering evidence of a sophisticated Bronze Age civilization that he named Minoan. His work, one of archaeology's major achievements, greatly advanced the study of European and eastern Mediterranean prehistory. He published his definitive account in The Palace of Minos, 4 vol. (1921–36).