In one of the three hills of the area, remains of the middle neolithic age have been found, and a part of the palace was built during the Early Minoan period. Another two palaces seems to have been built at the Middle and Late Minoan Age. The older looks like the Minoan palace of Knossos, although this is smaller. An earthquake c. 18th century BC destroyed the palace but a larger palace of the later Minoan period was built on the ruins around 1700 BC, consisting of several rooms separated by columns.