The Palace of Knossos

Abstract

When operations opened at Knossos, on February 23, 1903, it seemed to me at first sight probable that a comparatively short Campaign would exhaust the resources of the Palace Site, although the work entailed by the search for the tombs might itself be of gradual execution and uncertain quantity. But the site itself proved still inexhaustible, especially in its lower strata. The region of which the exploration had still to be completed on the South-East was supplemented by an unexpected extension of the site on the North-West, including the Theatral Area. Annexes, like a neighbouring building in the same quarter, proved of interminable extent and rich in contents, including a hoard of magnificent bronze vessels. What is practically an important dépendance of the Palace, described in this Report as the ‘Royal Villa,’ opened out to the North-East, and in addition to this, lower floor-levels, comprising deposits of extra-ordinary interest, were struck at a great number of points within the already excavated area of the Later Palace.