Sir John EvansBorn 17 Nov 1823; died 31 May 1908 at age 84.British antiquarian, numismatist, and a founder of prehistoric archaeology. In about 1860, he began his searches for relics of early man in Britain. He garnered a notable collection of prehistoric stone and bronze implements. Evans found humanly made stone axes in the same layers as the bones of extinct European animals like hippopotamus, elephant, and saber-toothed tiger. In 1859, from such evidence, he announced that humans had lived much earlier than 6,000 years ago. This was much older than the long accepted Biblical chronology implied. Evans also collected coins of the ancient Britons, Romans and Anglo-Saxons. His son Sir Arthur (John) Evans followed his interests as an archaeologist. |
