New discoveries made at Zominthos palace site

The Minoan palace of Zominthos was a complex with three-story buildings grounded in the rock at 1,200 meters above sea level. As early as 2000 BC, worshippers started placing offerings in clefts in the rock, such as "egg cups" - simple cup-shaped vases with a disc-like base - both painted and plain. The honorary director of the Antiquities Department, Dr Efi Sapounas-Sakellarakis, spoke enthusiastically to Kathimerini about the results of the annual excavation of the Archaeological Society at Zominthos, a small plateau in the northern foothills of Mount Psiloritis on Crete.

The palace of Zominthos, she says, had more than 150 rooms.

"It was a brilliant architectural combination in both design and construction. The large limestone floor slabs, which look like marble, have not been found elsewhere in the area," she said, adding that "they were brought there from a...