Fourno Korifi and Pyrgos

About a kilometer east of Myrtos lies the proto-Minoan settlement of Fournou Korifi. (2800 – 2200 BC). There’s a sign on the road that points up a gully. Climb up there and go right towards the hill across the flat part. There’s a gate around it, but it’s open. Good views from up here too!
This early Minoan settlement flourished at the start of the Bronze Age.

It’s one of the first Minoan settlements on Crete. It started out small, but grew over time to around 1250 sq.m. They found over 90 rooms, narrow alleys and a wall around it. There were storerooms and workshops and a sanctuary, where the ‘Goddess of Myrtos’ was found (now in the Archeological museum in Agios Nikólaos). The settlement was destroyed by fire and never rebuilt.

Next to Myrtos on a hill lies the early Minoan settlement of Pyrgos.
It was started shortly after that of Fournou Korifi, around 2200BC. The early settlement was destroyed by fire, but rebuilt in the Middle and Late Minoan periods and flourished until around 1450BC when the big house was burned down. The hill and the site take its name from the Greek word for tower-Pyrgos.

• Myrtos
• Ierapetra
• Sarakina gorge
• Males
• Monasteries of Karkasa