Minos

The Palace of King Minos

Palace of Knossos in Crete is the largest archaeological site from the time of the Minoan civilization. Its area is over 20 thousand square meters and has four wings arranged around a central rectangular building oriented north-south. The east wing consists of housing for high ranking officials, workshops and sanctuaries. Excavations at Knossos continued centuries inthe western part of the complex were found warehouses, tombs, and throne room. In the northern wing there were customs house, pool and stone theater. South wing was demonstrably used for religious processions and consists of narrow streets. The old palace of Knossos was built around 2000 BC and 300 years later, it was destroyed by the earthquake. It is assumed that the last building of the palacetook place about 1500 BC and a century later, after a conflagration, it ceases to be used.
“Knossos complex is anything but simplistic and it may take many years before we can construct a fuller view of Minoan life.  This site highlights many of the problems and controversies at archaeological sites with which we might never be familiar with unless we take the time to investigate further.”
Thefirst excavations in the area began in 1878. The West Wing of the Palace was found. Later, different people try to continue the excavations. Among them are Schliemann - the discoverer of Troy and Mycenae, and the Director of the Museum at Oxford Arthur Evans. Initially, the work does not go for the big claims of landlords. In 1898 Crete became independent and its governor - Britain's PrinceGeorge, issued a decree that all the ancient artifacts and sites where they are, have been declared state property. Intensive excavations began at the beginning of 1900, so on 23 March the same year Arthur Evans revealed the whole palace. Evans was a wealthy man, who deals with archeology of curiosity. Work on the excavation was terminated during the Balkan wars 1912 - 1914 years. Later they resumedand continued until 1931 when it completed the full disclosure of the west wing of the palace of Knossos. Along with Evans the greatest role in revealing the remains of past millennia has another Englishman - Duncan McKenzie, who is a professional archaeologist. He alone of all has led a detailed diary, which describes very accurately the course of excavations. “Stone was the primary buildingmaterial (on the ground floor, at any rate) but with a timber frame construction to provide flexibility in case of earthquake. Wood was used for the upper storeys and for all columns, roofs, door and window frames—these were reproduced in cement by Evans in the course of his restoration of the site.”
Since the beginning of last century argue about the function which had in ancient times the findings ofEvans, on the Mediterranean island. According to researchers this is the palace of the mythical King Minos. Other scholars argue that the palace of Knossos is the administrative center of the ancient state. Palaces were used for tombs and were known only to a small group of committed people. By the end of the 20th century near the Knossos more excavations were made. They found finding that thesite proved to was inhabited since 7000 BC. The first people in these places were occupied with agriculture and livestock. The transition from Neolithic to early Bronze Age, Crete has become apparent in the fourth millennium BC. It is assumed that the oldest parts of the palace are exactly the end of this period. A small part of it remains in the new constructions. The relationship between theoldest parts of the building and the new are most prominent in the west wing. The structure indicates that it was used as a public meeting place. There was formed the link between the town and castle, all roads lead to it. Western part of the palace of Knossos is used for administrative needs of the polis, experts suggest. This part is best known not only among specialists. The reason is that there...