in 1912, xanthoudides noted the importance of archanes, but sir arthur evans was the first to characterize the site as palatial, declaring that archanes was likely a summer palace for the knossos kings. spyridon marinatos and n. platon excavated minor areas in the region, but nothing supported evans' theory. in 1964, yannis sakellarakis dug trial trenches at the tourkoyeitonia site and uncovered the first evidence of a palace site. since 1966, archanes has been excavated by the greek archaeological society under the supervision of john sakellarakis and efi sapouna-sakellarakis.