Despite Evan's more professional way of excavating Knossos on the island of Crete, it frustrates me to learn that he performed a considerable amount of reconstruction on the site. In my opinion, this causes the site to loose some of it's intrigue and wonder. If I were to go visit the site myself and learn that it had been tainted by tools of the twentieth century, my fascination would quickly diminish. In my opinion, a large part of the beauty in these architectural feats is the fact that they were completed without the aid of modern day technology. I would prefer an ancient ruin to a modern reconstruction any day.
Although Schliemann's reasons for excavating the Turkish site of Hissarlik may have been more egocentric than for the benefit of the general public, I find myself less frustrated with the way he went about excavating the site. He may have been trying to rile up the media, but by doing this he sparked interest in those who otherwise would have been unaware of the excavation.
