Arkalochori
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Arkalochori Αρκαλοχώρι |
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 Arkalochori
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Location within the regional unit
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| Coordinates: 35°08′39″N 25°15′38″E / 35.1441°N 25.2606°ECoordinates: 35°08′39″N 25°15′38″E / 35.1441°N 25.2606°E | |
| Country | Greece |
| Administrative region | Crete |
| Regional unit | Heraklion |
| Municipality | Minoa Pediada |
| • Municipal unit | 237.6 km2 (91.7 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
| • Municipal unit | 10,476 |
| • Municipal unit density | 44/km2 (110/sq mi) |
| Community | |
| • Population | 4,822 (2011) |
| Time zone | EET (UTC+2) |
| • Summer (DST) | EEST (UTC+3) |
| Website | http://www.arkalochori.gr |
Arkalochori (Greek: Αρκαλοχώρι) is a town and a former municipality in the Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Minoa Pediada, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 237.589 km2 (91.734 sq mi).
The town lies on the western edge of the Minoa Pediada plain, west of the Lasithi plateau, in central Crete. It contains the archaeological site of a Minoan sacred cave. The sacred cave was used from the third millennium to ca 1450 BCE, when the natural ceiling collapsed, fortuitously protecting some of the votive deposits there.
Located near Partira, the town is 32 km south of Heraklion and at the 2011 census the municipal unit had a population of 10,476 inhabitants.
Arkalochori is 3 km south from the recently discovered Minoan palace at the small village of Galatas. G. Rethemiotakis has associated the votive objects of the Arkalochori cave with the Galatas palace.
The Arkalochori cave first came to scholarly attention in 1912, when peasants collected 20 kilos of Bronze Age weapons from the cave (known locally as "the treasure hole") and sold them for scrap metal in the port town of Candia (Iraklion). The ephor Iosif Hatzidakis, the first explorer of the central cave chamber of three, discovered masses of bronze votive weapons and a silver labrys (double axe).
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Wikipedia