7000BC to the end of the Bronze Age six millennia later, taking full account of recent discoveries. e must let the facts speak for themselves.' Not an attempt to rethink the field, then, Fitton's book nevertheless offers a considered and balanced overview of the grand sweep of Minoan archaeology, from the first permanent colonisation of Crete by humans c. Lesley Fitton's book subscribes to a different view of Minoan archaeology, outlined in her preface: 'Minoan society is incompletely understood, but that should not mean that it becomes a source for wild reconstructions or outlandish interpretations. Hamilakis' volume seeks new approaches to Minoan archaeology, not simply new data. The arrival of the 21st century brought a moment for reflection on Minoan archaeology, seen, for example, in Labyrinth Revisited: Rethinking Minoan Archaeology, edited by Yiannis Hamilakis. One reason for this is a feeling that progress in the field is measured primarily by the acquisition of more data and the pace of discovery cannot adequately be reflected in book-length treatments but is best managed by publication in academic journals. John Pendlebury's The Archaeology of Crete (1939) and Sinclair Hood's The Minoans: Crete in the Bronze Age (1971) stand out as notable exceptions in a small field. Perhaps surprisingly, there have been relatively few attempts to bring Minoan archaeology as a whole to a wider public. His vision dominated the field in the English-speaking world for much of the 20th century. Although not the first at Knossos (Minos Kalokairinos had excavated there in 1878), Evans' excavations and his resultant multivolume magnum opus, The Palace of Minos at Knossos, published between 19, set out a pervasive view not just of Knossos, but also of the civilisation Evans named 'Minoan'. Just over 100 years ago, in April 1900, Sir Arthur Evans commenced his excavations at the palatial site of Knossos on Crete.

Minoans by J. Lesley Fitton