The site of a Bronze Age palace of the Minoans in south-central Crete, constructed c 1900 BC, destroyed by an earthquake c 1700 BC, rebuilt, and succumbing to final destruction c 1450 BC from the eruption of Thera. Its plan follows closely the pattern of other Minoan palaces - a large central court with large reception rooms, domestic quarters, and extensive magazines grouped around it. In the Late Minoan period, through occupation continued, power and wealth passed to Hagia (Ayia) Triada, just to the west. Finds include a series of Middle Minoan Kamares Ware vases and the intriguing Phaistos Disk, a unique clay disk with stamped inscriptions in a spiral on each face. It comes from a deposit dated c 1700 BC, which makes it contemporary with the different - but equally undeciphered - Linear A script. Phaistos is the second largest of the Minoan palaces, after Knossos, and has a rather similar early history.