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Radiocarbon dating of charcoal and organic remains, offers some dates on the neolithic history of Crete. It is believed the neolithic period on Crete lasted from about 7000(1), to 3200BC.

About 9000 or 8000 years ago, the neolithic people that were farmers, with sheep, goat, and grains, arrived on the island. They were able to establish small settlements and start farming

Using local obsidian, and clay. They developed agriculture; made advanced stone tools; sophisticated pottery; and, traded
Crete’s early civilization did not know metallurgy yet. Many of the weapons, farming tools and art, were of obsidian, or other stone; bones; clay, and more.

Vindicating statuses, they shared and enjoyed small primitive carvings representing women
Different sculptures and pieces have been found on diverse places all over the island. Sharing an enjoyment, and perhaps even worship, of the goddess of fertility.

To many, Crete was an advancement from the other Greek neolithic islands. Probably, because it was closer to the eastern regions of Anatolia, and Palestine. And, Sicily/ the western Mediterranean.

Including Mochlos and Pseira, some of the first major ports, were established on Crete
Because of there location, and time period. Trade and commercialization would have been common.

Beginning with huts made of wooden pickets, and, a hard pack ground surface. Building and housing evolved
By the middle to late neolithic, stony walls and stronger beams became the commonplace. And, houses were now arranged with several rooms. The techniques went from using bricks, stones, cobs; to beautiful logs and masonry. Thru the end of the neolithic period, the population had significantly increased, and good looking architecture became an island attraction.

Megafauna of Crete corresponded to the last ice age; the late pleistocene, & hunter gathers. And, there are stories
Before neolithic times, and during the pleistocene. Native fauna of Crete included many. For larger mammals there was the pygmy hippo, pygmy elephant (paleoloxodon chaniensis); and, dwarf deer (praemegaceros cretensis). Giant mouse (kritimys catreus); and insectivores; as well as, badger, beech marten, and lutrogale cretensis. A kind of terrestrial otter.

Instead of the larger carnivores, there was the almost flightless cretan owl (Athene cretensis)
It was the apex predator.

Did you know? In 2008 and 2009, in South Crete, scientists excavated what they believed to be stone tools at least 130,000 years old (2,3). Which was a sensational discovery, since most believed the earliest sea crossing had thought to occur around 12,000BC. The stone tools found in this, the Plakias region, included hand axes of the Acheulean type, that were made from quartz. It is now believed pre-homo sapiens or hominids crossed from Africa to Crete on rafts (4,5). And, it has been suggested that the island may have been visited by archaic humans during the middle pleistocene (6).

Undeciphered ‘Linear A’ script; Minoans, metallurgy; post neolithic natural disasters; and, disruption
Neolithic art and cultural influences are believed to influence Crete from Egypt, the cyclades (Greek islands), and middle east. Records were actually found on the island in a written undeciphered script known as ‘Linear A”. In combination with these scripts, archaeological records indicate Cretes superb palaces, houses, roads, paintings and sculptures. Many of which originated from the neolithic period, and Minoan times.

During this time, main settlements of Knossos and Trapeza became well known. Crete was the center of Europe’s most ancient civilizations, and had a palace
As commercialization and trade kept increasing. Metallurgy became common. And, an area called the bronze age.

A peoples and culture called the Minoans, begin establishing themselves with even greater pottery, architecture, and style
Unfortunately, it was a earthquake around 1600bc; and, volcanic eruption in 1500bc. Followed by invasion, looting and fires. That was there prehistoric downfall.

Be sure to check out Crete, and some more neolithic architecture today!

Cite: 1) Team Led by PC Faculty Member Finds Evidence of Earliest Seafaring by Human Ancestors,
Providence College. (https://web.archive.org/web/20100527223416/http://www.providence.edu/
About+PC/College+News/Press+Releases/Crete+Findings.htm)

2) Strasser F. Thomas et al. (2010) Stone Age seafaring in the Mediterranean, Hesperia (The
Journal of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens), vol. 79, pp. 145–190. (http://ww
w.ascsa.edu.gr/pdf/uploads/StoneAgeSeafaringintheMedHesp79_2_145-190.pdf)

3) Lyras, George A.; Athanassiou, Athanassios; van der Geer, Alexandra A. E. (2022), Vlachos,
Evangelos (ed.), “The Fossil Record of Insular Endemic Mammals from Greece” (https://link.sp
ringer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-68442-6_25), Fossil Vertebrates of Greece Vol. 2, Cham:
Springer International Publishing, pp. 661–701, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-68442-6_25 (https://doi.
org/10.1007%2F978-3-030-68442-6_25), ISBN 978-3-030-68441-9, S2CID 239841623 (https://
api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:239841623), retrieved 2023-04-30

4) M. Pavia, C. Mourer-Chauviré An overview of the Genus Athene in the Pleistocene of the
Mediterranean Islands, with the Description of Athene trinacriae n.sp. (Aves: Strigidae) Z.
Zhou, F. Zhang (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5th Symposium of the Society of Avian Paleontology
and Evolution, Beijing Science Press (2002), pp. 13-27

5) Day, Jo (2018), “Crete, Archaeology of” (http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_1
434-2), Encyclopedia of Global Archaeology, Cham: Springer International Publishing,
pp. 1–18, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-51726-1_1434-2 (https://doi.org/10.1007%2F978-3-319-5172
6-1_1434-2), ISBN 978-3-319-51726-1

6) Tourloukis, Vangelis; Harvati, Katerina (February 2018). “The Palaeolithic record of Greece: A
synthesis of the evidence and a research agenda for the future” (https://linkinghub.elsevier.com
/retrieve/pii/S1040618216310011). Quaternary International. 466: 48–65.
Bibcode:2018QuInt.466…48T (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2018QuInt.466…48T).
doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2017.04.020 (https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.quaint.2017.04.020).

Bibliography: Chris Moorey, A History of Crete (Haus, 2019).

Wilford, J.N., On Crete, New Evidence of Very Ancient Mariners The New York Times, 15 Feb 2010.

Panagiotakis, Nikolaos M. (1987). “Εισαγωγικό Σημείωμα (“Introduction”)”. In Panagiotakis, Nikolaos M. (ed.). Crete, History and Civilization (in Greek). Vol. I. Vikelea Library, Association of Regional Associations of Regional Municipalities. pp. XI–XX.

Ion, Theodore P., “The Cretan Question,” The American Journal of International Law, April, 1910, pp. 276–284