Sir Arthur John Evans  (8 July 1851 - 11 July 1941) was an English archaeologist and pioneer in the study of Aegean civilization in the Bronze Age. He is most famous for unearthing the palace of Knossos on the Greek island of Crete. Evans continued Heinrich Schliemann's concept of a Mycenaean civilization, but found that he needed to distinguish another civilization, the Minoan, from the structures and artifacts found there and throughout the eastern Mediterranean. Evans was also the first to define Cretan scripts Linear A and Linear B, as well as an earlier pictographic writing.

Arthur Evans was born in Nash Mills, England, the first child of John Evans (1823-1908) and Harriet Ann Dickinson (born 1824), his first cousin, the daughter of John's employer, the inventor and founder of Messrs John Dickinson, a paper mill. John Evans came from a family of men who were both educated and intellectually active; they were nevertheless undistinguished by either wealth or aristocratic connection. John's father, Arthur Benoni Evans, Arthur's grandfather, had been headmaster of Market Bosworth Grammar School. John knew Latin and could quote the classical authors.  In 1840, instead of going to college, John started work in the mill owned by his maternal uncle, John Dickinson. He married his cousin, Harriet, in 1850, which entitled him, in 1851, to a junior partnership in the family business. Profits from the mill would eventually help fund Arthur's excavations, restorations at Knossos, and resulting publications. For the time being they were an unpretentious and affectionate family. They moved into a brick row house built for the purpose near the mill, which came to be called the "red house" because it lacked the sooty patina of the other houses. Harriet called her husband "Jack." Grandmother Evans called Arthur "darling Trot," asserting in a note that, compared to his father, he was "a bit of a dunce." In 1856, with Harriet's declining health and Jack's growing reputation and prosperity, they moved into Harriet's childhood home, a mansion with a garden, where the children ran free.  John maintained his status as an officer in the company, which eventually became John Dickinson Stationery, but also became distinguished for his pursuits in numismatics, geology and archaeology. His interest in geology came from an assignment by the company to study the diminishing water resources in the area with a view toward protecting the company from lawsuits. The mill consumed large amounts of water, which was also needed for the canals. He became an expert and a legal consultant. However, collecting was endemic to the family; his father and grandfather both had done it. He was more interested in the stone-age artifacts he was discovering while mapping stream beds. As Arthur grew older, he was allowed to assist John in looking for artifacts and later classifying the collection.  Ultimately John became a distinguished antiquary, publishing numerous books and articles. In 1859 he conducted a geological survey of the Somme Valley with Joseph Prestwich. His connections and invaluable advice were indispensable to Arthur's career throughout the remainder of his long life.  Arthur's mother, Harriet, died in 1858 when Arthur was seven. He had two brothers, Philip Norman (1854) and Lewis (1853), and two sisters, Alice (1858) and Harriet (1857). He would remain on excellent terms with all of them all of his life. He was raised by a stepmother, Fanny (Frances), nee Phelps, with whom he also got along very well. She had no children of her own and also predeceased her husband. John's third wife was a classical scholar, Maria Millington Lathbury. When he was 70 they had a daughter, Joan, who would become an art historian. John died in 1908 at 85, when Arthur was 57. His close support and assistance had been indispensable in excavating and conceptualizing Minoan civilization.

Ask a question about this article.
Did Arthur have any siblings?