 In the early decades of the 20th century, Sir Arthur Evans s finds at Knossos made the Minoean civilization resume its place as first literate culture in Europe, 3500 years ago, although he couldn t decipher the alphabet forcing him to and allowing a lot of imaginative interpretations. He also declared an ivory and gold statue, like the stone one which he baptizes the snake goddess, as he believed it the maternal main Minoan deity, also authentic and arbitrarily declares a palatial building a royal grave. In our age, the Canadian Alexander McGillivray, who became an archaeologist as an Evans fan, however found at Palikastro an undoubtedly authentic Minoean  kouros , a male statue he considers a deity and hence questions Evans  view on Ancient Crete s religion. It is known Evans used a French artist s services who produced both reconstructions and brilliant replicas and even  could have been  made-up pieces, often sold openly, even to major museums worldwide. Modern dating found the snake goddess ivory nearly 3000 years too young.