Galatas Minoan Palace

The Minoan Palace of Galatas is located at the administrative region of the village Galatas , province Pediada, about 30km south of Heraklion and close to Arkalochori . The palace was built at an elevated hill called Kefala with views to the Messara plane to the south and to the sacred cave of Arkalochori at Profitis Ilias hill.

Kefala hosts two caves, probably used for the religious needs of the Minoans, namely caves Poulina and Atzoanos . The palace covers an area of 0.4 hectares; the surrounding town was excavated in 1992-1997 by the team of the archaeologist Georgios Rethymiotakis .

The palace was built with some Mycenaean features (eg a central yard surrounded by pillars), which implies the interconnections with other Mycenaean centres. A large number of tools, mainly made of stone, for food preparation was also found.

The palace was built around 1700 BC, flourished in 1650 BC and in 1500 BC it started declining, till its final abandonment. Excavations have not been completed and the archaeological site is not visited.