Arthur Evans: Travels in Crete 1894-1899

A memorable volume to mark number 1000 in the BAR International Series. After the most prolonged period of study and research, Ann Brown has prepared a detailed, facsimile edition of Arthur Evans's travel diaries in Crete (1894-99), which are now part of the Evans archive in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Each page of the diaries is reproduced, showing all Evans's drawings and sketches; opposite is a transcript with commentary and notes. For each year, Ann Brown has written an introduction and she concludes her study with a range of valuable reference material. Evans had been a journalist, and his interest in politics is sometimes mirrored in his writing, as he spelt out the difficulties of working and travelling in the island. His diary also reveals the development of his ideas about a prehistoric writing system which he named Minoan, which he soon realized was earlier than that of Mycenae. As Arthur Evans's record proceeds, a picture emerges of the state of archaeology in Crete, and the co-operation between the small band of international scholars working and travelling in the island at this time. Everyone with the slightest interest in Crete will want to refer to this important book.