At altitude 900 meters – Dated from 1.600 up to 1.400 B.C.

Minoan building, dating from 1.600 up to 1.400 B.C. brought to light by the archaeological hoe at the site of Gaidourofas, in East Ierapetra, in altitude 900 meters.

The first indications, according to archaeologists, they speak of an important building, which with the so far features resulting from the excavation, it could be classified as a mansion.

And the British archaeologist Arthur Evans when he passed by the point 1898, he noted in his diary that he found that in the area - and despite the embankments- there were architectural elements that testified to the presence of a Minoan building.

During this year's first two-week excavation period, archaeologists managed to excavate, down to the floor, the interior of two rooms.

The building – according to archaeologists- he saves all his embankments, it has not been subjected to subsequent circulation and the main thing, the occupants left it after its destruction without taking with them the objects that were inside it.

The causes of destruction and the reasons for the building's abandonment have not yet been clarified and further evidence is expected to emerge as the excavation progresses., according to them.

Yet, as they emphasize, archaeologists such mansions exist in other parts of Crete but so far they have only been recorded and excavated in lowland areas, at an altitude of up to 400 meters, where they are traditionally associated with agricultural cultivation.

On the contrary, the building in the East is much higher, and is the second building to be excavated at such a high altitude after the one in Zominthos by Yiannis and Efi Sakelarakis.
The excavation is carried out as part of a five-year research program implemented and financed by the University of Athens, with the financial support of institutions from Greece and abroad, led by the Prehistoric Archeology lecturer at the Department of History and Archeology Yiannis Papadatos, and Gerapetri archaeologist Kostis Halikias as deputy director, PhD from the University of Heidelberg.

"With this excavation we are trying to understand the importance of the mountains for the Minoan economy, i.e. the natural resources and wealth-producing sources that the Minoans exploited at these altitudes, emphasizes the head of the excavation, Yiannis Papadatos.

Mr. Papadatos emphasized that "the second goal is to begin to understand what was happening in Minoan Ierapetra where the evidence is minimal. Despite the timeless importance of the Ierapetra plain, we have not the slightest idea about the location of the Minoan settlement, and we do not know whether there was any kind of administrative or even palatial center, such as those excavated at neighboring sites, in Gournia, in Makri Gialos and Myrtos.

» Yi’ this and we are looking for indirect evidence in the mountains hoping that the excavation in the East will provide us with it".