Evans, Arthur J.: Scripta minoa: the written documents of minoan Crete with special reference to the archives of Knossos (Band 1): The hieroglyphic and primitive linear classes (Oxford, 1909)

SUCCESSIVE TYPES OF MINOAN WRITING 17

ing peasants, which bore groups of hieroglyphic signs.1 In addition to this, however,
there came subsequently to my notice a fragmentary indication the precise significance Enigmatic
of which it was impossible at that time to appraise, but which opened out still greater rag"16111,
possibilities. In 1895 I was shown a part of a burnt clay slip then in the posses-
sion of a Candiote, Kyrios Zachyrakis, said to have been found on the site of
Kephala, presenting some incised linear signs which seemed to belong to an
advanced system of writing. It had been apparently a surface find, and there was
nothing by which to determine its age. The clay slip itself perished at the time of
the destruction of the Christian Quarter, but I took a careful copy of it at the time.3
The object itself, standing as it did entirely isolated, was still of such an uncertain nature
that, when publishing some supplementary materials on the Cretan script in 1896,
I preferred to place this inscribed fragment, the potential significance of which might
be so far-reaching, to ' a reserve account'.

On the Hill of Kephala therefore I resolved to dig. But, such were the local Excavation
circumstances, that in order eventually to secure full freedom of action in the matter
of excavation it was necessary to obtain the actual ownership of the property, which
unfortunately, according to the system prevalent in Crete, was in the hands of co-
proprietors, who were Moslem Beys of an exceptionally intractable disposition.
Already in 1895 I was able to purchase a share in the property, but it was not till
six years later, after encountering every kind of obstacle and intrigue, that I finally
succeeded in purchasing the whole site. This was largely owing to the assistance
of Dr. Joseph Hazzidakis, now Ephor-General of Antiquities and Director of the
Museum at Candia, who amidst all the obstructions to which I had been subjected
had constantly seconded my efforts. Difficulties remained of a political nature, but,
thanks to the goodwill of Prince George of Greece, these, too, were successfully
surmounted, and at last, in March, 1900, it was possible to begin operations. The
results have been such as to surpass all expectations. Aided by the Cretan Explora-
tion Fund then started, and ably seconded by my Assistant, Dr. Duncan Mackenzie,
and by the former architect to the British School of Athens, Mr. Theodore Fyfe, The Palace
I was able in the course of seven campaigns to lay bare a great prehistoric Palace and of Minos-
its dependencies. The 'House of Minos', the works of Daedalos, the Labyrinth itself,
have been shown to be no mere creations of ancient fancy.

On the general outcome of these excavations and the extraordinary degree of
advancement exhibited by the Minoan civilization in various branches of art and
of mechanical and sanitary science this is not the place to enlarge.3 As regards the
particular subject of investigation that is the scope of the present work the results were
indeed decisive.

On March 30, 1900, the exploration of the area above the Southern Terrace brought Discovery
to light the larger part of an elongated clay tablet with signs and numbers incised upon ^^^

1 Cretan Picts., Fig. 30, p. 24 [293] and Fig. 40, p. 30 * Preliminary Reports have appeared in the Annual
[299]. See below, Pt. II, 5§ 6, 7. ofthe British School at Alliens, vols. vi-x.

* See vol. ii of this work.