Trapeza, Crete

Trapeza Cave (also called Kronion Andron) is a Neolithic and Bronze Age sacred cave near the village of Tzermiado on the Lassithi Plateau in Crete. Excavated in 1936 and 1938, it revealed extensive human activity and multiple burials from the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. In the Neolithic era the cave served as a dwelling, later becoming a cult and burial site linked to the Minoan settlement on nearby Kastelos hill. Finds include pottery similar to Knossos and Vasiliki specimens, and Egyptian scarab beetles of the 11th Dynasty indicating ancient Cretan-Egyptian trade connections.