A friendly taxi driver from Agios Nikolaos pulled his cab over to the side of the road so I could take this photo as we passed the Minoan palace of Gournia.

Farnoux (right) examines a find from a new trench.

Kanta and her dog Hercules stand in front of a natural rock formation at Monastiraki. The rock was originally covered with thick, coarse, white plaster--her team has collected bagfulls of it--a feature not found at any other site on Crete. On the side of the rock, the archaeologists discovered narrow terraces made of little stones, presumably to facilitate climbing to the top, which had been leveled.

The rock may have provided a vantage point from which people could watch over the surrounding roads. But trial trenches at its base have revealed an intriguing discovery that may lead to another interpretation: a 5.9-inch-tall statuette made of fine clay in the barbotine technique that depicts a couple embracing--a young male and a naked, older female (his head nestled in her breasts). Kanta believes that it is not an erotic pose--one of the man's arms clearly separates the two--but rather a Minoan goddess and either her consort or the ruler of the area. (Parallel examples exist in Egypt and Syria.) The find suggests the rock may also have had religious significance, but further excavations are needed before any conclusions can be drawn.

Driessen (left, facing forward), oversees work atop the 20-meter-high hill, where the latest remains of the settlement (15th-13th century B.C.) are being unearthed. Florence Gaignerot and Quentin Letesson direct excavation of the Late Minoan III central building in this area, while Maud Devolder supervises work in zone 5, also Late Minoan III, against the south top of the summit.

The rugged coastline of eastern Crete, somewhere between the modern city of Agios Nikolaos and the ancient city of Gournia

Salvage excavations were conducted last year at this site near the sea, where a pedestrian walkway was planned. Archaeologists found the remains of a Greek Orthodox church built in the 12th century, with intriguing wall paintings that date to the 13th and 14th centuries (the church appears to have been in use until the 16th century). It also featured 36 rectangular graves in the floor, visible in the foreground.

The archaeologists (lower center) dig for the continuation of the harbor amid a dramatic landscape. Although they haven’t conducted formal excavations atop the hill behind them, they believe the acropolis of the ancient city was located there. The hill’s central chunk was lost in an as-yet-undetermined cataclysmic event.

The cemetery at Eleutherna (center) is covered with an elaborate protective roof. It was designed to blend in as harmoniously as possible with the landscape.

The landscape is dotted with innumerable rock-cut Roman tombs (left) like this one, as far as the eye can see. In recent years, local shepherds have converted an adjacent tomb here into a small chapel.