The Unexplored Mansion was discovered by Evans in 1908 when, continuing his excavation of the Little Palace, he examined the space west of it. The complex, apart from one room looked by Evans, remained unexplored until 1967, when the British School at Athens committee and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Heraklion approved it’s excavation under Mervyn Popham’s direction (Excavation 1976-1973). The Mansion was built in Late Minoan IA (1600-1500 BC) but never completed at the time, occupied and destroyed by a fierce fire within Late Minoan II (1450-1400 BC), partly used in Late Minoan IIIA (1400-1300 BC), and finally abandoned, after further mishaps, in Late Minoan IIIB (1300-1200BC). The Mansion was a well-built edifice originally perhaps constructed as a storage and industrial annexe to the Little palace, to which it was connected by a bridge. The Late Minoan II destruction deposits yielded impressive artefactual assemblages, mostly fallen from the upper floor into the rooms below, including masses of fine pottery, some of outstanding quality, storage containers, frescoes, figurines, and various other small finds. The rich bronzes and metalworking equipment were discussed by Hector Catling, who argued for the presence of a bronzesmith’s workshop engaged in the manufacture of weaponry. Fine metalwork, up to fifty years old, was collected as scrap metal and intended for re-melting. This metallurgical activity was associated with the assumed arrival of the Mycenaeans, who introduced new material expressions of political and social status, expressions emphasising the display of fine weaponry, deposited in the so-called Warrior Graves prominent at Knossos in LM II-IIIA. Directly over the ruins of the Unexplored Mansion was excavated part of the city of historical times, inhabited from the Sub-Minoan period to the early 3rd century CE.
