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Plan of the Palace at Knossos
Plan of the Palace at Knossos in the Middle Minoan IIIB phase (after C. Macdonald)
The Palace of Minos at Knossos represents a succession of palatial structures built upon the Neolithic "tell" site of Kephala, 7 km south of the modern harbor town of Herakleion. The first clearly recognizable structure, called the Old Palace, was established in the Middle Minoan IB period. After an earthquake destroyed this early palace in Middle Minoan IIIA, a grand New Palace was built over it in Middle Minoan IIIB, as shown in the plan above.
Recent archaeology by C. MacDonald and others has revealed that this palace, too, suffered significant damage by earthquakes and was largely rebuilt at the start of the Late Minoan IA phase, with additional structural walls and embellishments. Finally, this palace, as well, was destroyed, and remained in much more limited use in the Late Minoan IB period. The final incarnation of the center at Knossos was the fully functional Mycenaean Palace of Late Minoan II-IIIA, which housed the Linear B archives.
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[Source: Macdonald, C.F. 2002. "The Neopalatial Palaces of Knossos" in Monuments of Minos: Rethinking the Minoan Palaces]Copyright © 1996-2019 Athena Publications, Inc. (All Rights Reserved).