An important and rare find was made during this year’s excavation at the Minoan palace of Archanes in Crete, where archaeologist Dr Efi Sapouna-Sakellaraki continued her archaeological research to complete the image of the three-storey building, which played an important role, alongside Knossos, in the development of Minoan civilization. It is a Gate Sanctuary, a unique element, which is found for the first time in a Minoan palace, outside the main entrance, at the same spot where four altars have been uncovered, as well as the two arms of the stone construction of the platform, which as a whole indicate the religious significance of the site.

In this year’s excavation also, apart from a double axe base that had been uncovered earlier, another pyramidal base was found on the platform, while the existence of a third is also possible, as it is preserved fragmentarily on the western arm.

Efi Sapouna-Sakellaraki “returned”, for the second year, to the Minoan palace of Archanes, after the great archaeological research revealed in the 1960s by the great archaeologist Yannis Sakellarakis, in order to be continued by her in the following decades. The aim was to clarify certain building remains, but the excavations provided impressive information.

The excavation in Archanes for the period 2024 was conducted by the Archaeological Society of Athens under the direction of Dr. Efi Sapouna-Sakellaraki with the scientific staff of archaeologists Dr. Polina Sapouna-Ellis, Dimitris Kokkinakos (MA) and Persephone Xylouri.