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 as they mourned for their lost brother, Meleagor, so she transformed them into Guinea Fowl to be her favorite animals. Hawks were the favored birds of many of the gods, Artemis included. The oldest representations of Artemis in Greek Archaic art portray her as "Potnia Theron" ("Queen of the Beasts"): a winged goddess holding a stag and leopard in her hands, or sometimes a leopard and a lion. This winged Artemis lingered in ex-votos as Artemis Orthia, with a sanctuary close by Sparta. In Greek classical art she is usually portrayed as a maiden huntress, young, tall and slim, clothed