Reply To: Myth Becomes History

[Allie Eby]

As many students above have pointed out, both Sir Evans and Heinrich Schliemann were responsible for the longstanding mislabeling and misunderstanding of historic sites and artifacts from Minoan and Mycenaean culture (even leading to the modification of their original forms to better fit their own publications). It is extremely likely to me that the men in question were not particularly interested in preserving the real cultural value of the objects as much as they were in favor of furthering their own status within the archaeological community. I believe this is also largely due to the cultural place that archaeology held within much of Europe in earlier times, most especially Great Britain, where it mainly served as a sensation. In my opinion, historical archaeologists at times were hardly better than graverobbers, showed off artifacts as prizes taken from “exciting and exotic’ civilizations. I think that this was greatly colored by Colonialist attitudes, as it seems that the actual history and cultural accuracy of the finds was far less important to the public eye than the excitement of the spectacle itself.