The palace of Knossos

The Palace of Knossos is located in North Central Crete just south of the outskirts of Heraklion on the Kephala hill. The site was first occupied some time around 7000 BCE in what is called the Aceramic Neolithic period (aceramic because no pottery was produced). The Bronze Age was not to begin for a further four thousand years. It is thought that Knossos was the first and oldest Neolithic site in Crete and the first indication of human activity on the island is located in the exact area where the Palace and its Central Court were to be located. So humans had been continually active on the site for five thousand years before the First Palace was constructed.

Although the Neolithic gave way to the Bronze Age, when no doubt new peoples arrived from the East, there is no evidence that the original population on the Kephala Hill was replaced by the newcomers. More likely was a gradual transition from neolithic to bronze age practices.

At the end of Middle Minoan IIB other palaces in Crete were so thoroughly damaged that they had to be rebuilt. It seems that this was not the case at Knossos, which may have been far enough away from the epicentre of the earthquake to escape the complete devastation that hit the palace at Phaistos. During the Middle Minoan IIIA period which followed the palace destructions elsewhere, the Palace at Knossos did not undergo any dramatic architectural transformation. Other changes, however, became noticeable. For example, the writing script at Knossos had been Cretan Hieroglyphic while in the south at Phaistos, Linear A was preferred. Now Linear A came to Knossos and over a period of time it replaced the use of the Cretan Hieroglyphic.