Introduction

1Sissi and Malia are Minoan settlements on the north-eastern coast of Crete, 41 and 37 km respectively, east of Heraklion. During the 1989-1993 archaeological campaigns in Quartier Nu at Malia and the more recent 2007- 2011 excavations on the hill of Kefali at Sissi, large architectural complexes with extensive evidence for Late Minoan IIIB occupation were revealed. At Malia, some blocks of the Neopalatial town were still inhabited in LM IIIB, such as Quartier Lambda (van Effenterre & van Effenterre 1969: 108, pls LVIII-LIX) and Quartier Epsilon (Deshayes & Dessenne 1959: 105, 108, 154; Pelon 1967: 502-503; 1970: 136), but the principal evidence comes from the newly built Quartier Nu (Fig. 7.1)1. At Sissi, the LM IIIB phase is essentially represented by the occupation of the monumental complex excavated on the summit of the hill. Building CD (Fig. 7.2)2.