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Published: July 10th 2023
The history of Crete goes back to the 7th millennium BC, preceding the ancient Minoan civilization by more than four thousand years. The palace-based Minoan civilization was the first civilization in Europe. After the Minoan civilization was devastated by the Thera (Santorini) eruption, Crete developed an Ancient Greece-influenced organization of city-states, then successively became part of the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Venetian Republic, the Ottoman Empire, an autonomous state, and the modern state of Greece.
Excavations in South Crete in 2008–2009 revealed stone tools at least 130,000 years old. This was a sensational discovery, as the previously accepted earliest sea crossing in the Mediterranean was thought to occur around 12,000 BC. This suggests that the island may have been visited by archaic humans many thousands of years ago.
Stone tools indicate that the island was inhabited by Mesolithic hunter gatherers during the Early Holocene (~9000 BC). In the Neolithic period (~7000 BC), some of the early influences on the development of Cretan culture arise from the Cyclades and from Egypt; cultural records are written in the undeciphered script known as "Linear A". The archaeological record of Crete includes superb palaces, houses, roads, paintings and sculptures. Early Neolithic
settlements in Crete include Knossos and Trapeza.
Remains of a settlement found under the Bronze Age palace at Knossos date to the 7th millennium BC. The Late Neolithic sees a proliferation of sites, pointing to a population. Crete was the centre of Europe's most ancient civilization, the Minoans. Tablets inscribed in Linear A have been found in numerous sites in Crete, and a few in the Aegean islands. It appears that the Minoans established themselves on many islands besides Ancient Crete (eg Kea, Kythera, Milos, Rhodes, and Santorini).
Jacqueline found a great AirBnB about a 25 minute walk from downtown and we spent quite a bit of time visiting the sites around Heraklion. We also visited Knossos which was only a short bus trip away. Crete is absolutely huge and it would take quite some time to explore the whole island.
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