Phaistos

A 38-year-old climber fell to his death on Tuesday morning while attempting to cross a canyon in southern Crete.

The man, a Greek national, was among a group of climbers exploring Agiofarango when he fell onto the rocks below from a great height, a local news website reported. It was not clear what caused the fall.

The Central Archaeological Council is on the cusp of completing the candidacy file for the inclusion of Crete's Minoan-era ancient palaces of Zakros, Knossos, Phaistos, Malia, Zominthos and Kydonia in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The results of a 10-year study by British linguist Gareth Owens and Oxford University phonetics professor John Coleman to decipher the famously enigmatic Phaistos Disk of Crete will be presented at Cambridge University on February 3 in a lecture titled "From Linear B to the Phaistos Disk."

Archaeologists recently discovered some new surprising information about the ancient city of Knossos located on the Greek island of Crete.

According to recently fieldwork, during the early Iron Age (1100 to 600 BC), the city was rich in imports and was about three times larger than what was believed from earlier excavations.

Archaeologist and coordinator of the program Erasmus of Crete Technological Institute Gareth Owens gives a different version of Phaistos Disk mystery.

He said that following new data found in his research the focus is no longer the “pregnant mother”, as originally estimated, but a “pregnant goddess” that takes shape in the face of Astarte, the goddess of love.