Gouves, Greece and partially restored Knossos in the early 20th century. A more comprehensive exploration was done by French and Greek archaeologists in the 1960s. They found a considerable number of bronze and ceramic votive offerings, the oldest of them dating from the earliest Minoan periods, suggesting the cave was an important sacred shrine dedicated to a female fertility deity, presumably Britomartis. The cave was still used in Classical Greek and Roman eras, when the fertility goddess Artemis or her Roman equivalent Diana replaced the Minoan deity. Gouves, Greece Gouves () is a town and former municipality in the Heraklion regional unit,
Artemis worshipped as a fertility/childbirth goddess in some places, assimilating Ilithyia, since, according to some myths, she assisted her mother in the delivery of her twin. During the Classical period in Athens, she was identified with Hecate. Artemis also assimilated Caryatis (Carya). As Aeginaea, she was worshipped in Sparta; the name means either huntress of chamois, or the wielder of the javelin (). Also in Sparta, Artemis "Lygodesma" was worshipped. This epithet means "willow-bound" from the Gr. "lygos" (λυγός, willow) and "desmos" (δεσμός, bond). The willow tree appears in several ancient Greek myths and rituals. She was worshipped at Naupactus as