Everything about Dr Duncan Mackenzie totally explained
Duncan Mackenzie (1861–1934) was a
Scottish archaeologist, whose work focused on one of the more spectacular
20th century archaeological finds, Crete's palace of
Knossos, the supposed centre of
Minoan civilisation.
He was born to a poor
Highland family in
Ross and Cromarty,
Scotland; studied
philosophy at
Edinburgh University; and received his
PhD from
Vienna in classical archaeology. After earning a great reputation as a field archaeologist at
Phylakopi, he was recommended to Sir
Arthur Evans to help him run his dig at Knossos. The two would work together for the next thirty years.
Mackenzie was Evans' second in command during his excavations of Knossos. He kept detailed records as Evans' assistant of daily discoveries and served as a middle man between Evans and the inhabitants of
Crete. Despite the crucial role he played in the excavations, Mackenzie was eventually fired by Evans. In
Time and Chance, Joan Evans said that Mackenzie became very difficult to work during the latter years of his curatorship because of "the gradual onset of his illness." It has also been said that Evans found Mackenzie one night passed out on a table and fired him the next day. Friends of Mackenzie disputed this, saying he didn't drink. In any case, this removal devastated Mackenzie and exacerbated the mental illness from which he already suffered.
After Mackenzie's death in
Italy, some of Evans' system of Minoan
dating came into question. Mackenzie's meticulous work was the key witness in defense of Evans' work. Though there was conflict between Evans and Mackenzie, Evans respected Mackenzie for his contributions to the excavation and paid tribute to his right-hand man in the last volume of
The Palace of Minos.
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