Egyptian scarabs and Cretan seal-stones. Coloured image of an illustration by the British archaeologist Arthur Evans (1851-1941). Here, Evans is comparing 12th Dynasty Egyptian scarabs dating from the second millennium BC, and early Cretan seal-stones of a similar date. Evans saw the similarities and hypothesised that Egyptian scarabs influenced the design of Cretan pictograms. Scarabs were found during excavations in Crete indicating that a close relationship existed between the Minoan and Egyptian civilisations. Artwork from The Story of the Alphabet (Edward Clodd, 1900).