Introduction

1The history of the Greek-Swedish Excavations in the Agia Aikaterini Square on the Kastelli Hill of the modem town of Khania in West Crete began over 40 years ago. Some trial trenches were dug in 1969 and regular excavations began the year after. The last Greek-Swedish Excavation took place in 2008 but from 2010 we have continued to explore the Agia Aikaterini Square under a new name – the Greek-Swedish-Danish Excavations.

2The history of the prehistoric settlements on the Kastelli Hill began in the Early Minoan period and continued until the end of early LM IIIC when people left the site, not to return for some 400 years. It was then again continuously inhabited until the Kastelli area was bombed during the Second World War in 1942. This almost uninterrupted 5000 years of habitation on the site has created a very complicated stratigraphy. We particularly owe the successful results of the excavations to our skilful technicians and workers which in the 1970s were tr