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Archanes (, Godart & Olivier abbreviation: ARKH) is a former municipality in the Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Archanes-Asterousia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of . Population 5,064 (2021). It is also the archaeological site of an ancient Minoan human settlement in central Crete. (1991). 9789602132340, Ekdotike Athenon. ISBN 9789602132340 The discovery of ancient roads leading from Archanes to Juktas, Anemospilia, Xeri Kara and Vathypetro indicate that Archanes was an important hub in the region during Minoan times. Archaeological evidence indicates that Acharna spread out over the same area as the modern town of Archanes.
In the Minoan era, aqueducts delivered water to Kephala Hill from spring water sources at Archanes, which are also the source of the Kairatos River.C. Michael Hogan, Knossos fieldnotes, Modern Antiquarian (2007)
Troullos is the easternmost site of the Archanes human settlement. Tourkoyeitonia, in central Archanes, is the site of its palace, likely built in the Minoan pottery period. Excavations began here in 1964 by Y. Sakellarakis. It contains features such as ashlar blocks, limestone plaques and blocks, plaster, wood, stucco floor tiles, gypsum, kouskoura slabs, mud bricks, ironstone blocks, schist plaques, blue marble flooring, carved concave altars, wooden columns and pillars, frescoes and Polytheron doorways. A variety of porphyrite stone lamps, vases, , cooking pots, cups, lamps, tools and every-day domestic items such as tweezers have been unearthed at the site. Southwest of Tourkogeitonia, more of the palace is found. While little remains of the architecture, the walls that are preserved are Middle Minoan III–Late Minoan IA. Linear A tablets and the model of a house were excavated at The Archive along with MMIII-LMIA Minoan pottery and several unworked pieces of rock crystal, obsidian and steatite.
The man-made enclosure of a spring, partially excavated in 1921 by Sir Arthur Evans, was completed by Y. Sakellarakis in 1964. The floor is laid with pebbles, and the walls are limestone. Evidence indicates that it was built between Middle Minoan IB and Middle Minoan IIIA, destroyed during Late Minoan IA, and then restored and in various use afterward. The reservoir is within the palace grounds.
A large paved area, dissected by walkways that form a triangle, is found in the 'Theatre Area' or 'Aghios Nikolaos' (Saint Nicholas). Two stepped altars are found here, one on a walkway and one on the pavement. There is a painting of a reconstruction of this area in Sakellarakis' Crete Archanes guidebook on page 49, which does this area more justice than a written description.
Excavations in the 1980s in the archaeological site of Lakkos, an ancient Minoan settlement just south of Archanes, found a bronze bull figurine and bronze chisel.
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