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At the southern end of the site an expansive courtyard would have been the hub of the settlement and may have been the town’s market. It was probably also used for ceremonial purposes.

The L-shaped stair that rises from the courtyard to the central court of the palace is characteristic of Minoan palaces. The design of it echoes similar ceremonial stairs found in virtually every Minoan palace site in Crete.

Access to the central court of the palace from the courtyard below is by the ceremonial staircase. The Minoan ruler of Gournia may well have used this antechamber to the small palace building as his audience hall.

The palace, which may have been the dwelling place of a governor who ruled Gournia on behalf of the Minoan ruler of Knosos, is a miniature version of the more important Minoan royal palaces. In the centre of the palace is a sacrificial altar.

Adjoining the palace are storerooms, or magazines, where grain, oil and other essentials would have been kept in earthenware jars.

A cobbled, mosaicdecorated path leads steeply up to a small shrine, which was found to contain cult objects. The terracotta goddess figurines and snake are now displayed in the Irakleio Archaeological Museum

Gournia was clearly a thriving, self-contained community, and tools and other materials found in this small building indicate that it was used by a woodworker who may also have lived on the premises with his family.

Clay fragments indicate this was a potter’s workshop . The finds unearthed in this and other buildings indicate Gournia was suddenly abandoned rather than slowly run down.

Bronze nails and scraps, and a simple stone anvil suggest a smithy used in smelting bronze. Tools, weapons, utensils and votive objects from Gournia are at Irakleio Archaeological Museum.

The crude stone washing basins found outside almost every building in Gournia are known as gournes in modern Greek. They gave their name to the long lost site when it was rediscovered.