Phaistos, which emerged as a major palace after 2000 BC, is unusual in having a large surviving portion of the earliest palace (unlike Knossos, for example, which was rebuilt after the earthquake destructions of c 1625 BC).
It is centred around a large court approached from a ceremonial entrance up a grand staircase. Another stair leads down to a lower court on the west. On this side of the palace were large storerooms containing circular granary pits to store local agricultural produce.
Outside the palace are the remains of a substantial town while in the surrounding countryside dependent settlements occur, including a small palace complex at Hagia Triada and a port at Kommos.
Sacred vessels found in the nearby Kamares cave have given their name to the very fine painted pottery that was an important Minoan export, while Phaistos was the find place of the curiously inscribed Phaistos disc (which may be a modern fake).
