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THE
EXCAVATORS
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FIRST EXCAVATORS 1902 - 1908 In April 1902, Robert Carr Bosanquet (center) went to Palaikastro to find the Minoan palace, like those recently discovered at Knossos and Phaistos, and the temple of Diktaian Zeus, famous from the inscription with the Magnesian arbitration award in the Toplou Monastery. He returned in 1903-5 with R. M. Dawkins (left), C. T. Currelly (right) and M. N. Tod. They uncovered the Minoan town blocks A to S at Roussolakkos, while J. L. Myres excavated the peak sanctuary at Petsofas and W. L. H. Duckworth and C. H. Hawes studied the Minoan cemeteries. They failed to find the Minoan palace, but found the inscription with the Hymn to the Greatest Kouros, which proved that Palaikastro was the ancient Diktaion - the sanctuary of Cretan-born, or Diktaian Zeus, the main Cretan deity. |
 THE FIRST EXCAVATORS 1902 - 1908 |
 THE RECENT EXCAVATORS FROM 1983 to today |
| THE
RECENT EXCAVATORS FROM 1983 to today L. H. Sackett (center) returned again in 1983 with J. A. MacGillivray (right) and J. M. Driessen (left) to conduct a new search for the Minoan palace. They began with a site survey using magnetometer and surface indicators, which determined that Minoan Palaikastro was 30 hectares in extent. In 1986, with a large international team, they uncovered the southwest sector of the city with Buildings 1 to 7. Their greatest find, the Palaikastro Kouros, indicated that the ancient Diktaion probably had a Minoan predecessor. The recent geophysical survey directed by I. K. Whitbread and M. Boyd showed that the town was even larger and has located the traces of a large structure in a previously unexplored area. |
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| C Permission Granted by directors: Mr H.Sackett, Professor A.MacGillivray, Professor J. Driessen and the British School At Athens Archivist. |