The ‘Kastelli’ hill was the acropolis of every settlement that arose on the site of the modern city, because of its geomorphology and its strategic location next to a natural harbor. The large plain in the north and the numerous nearby streams and rivers are the main reasons for the efflorescence of important civilizations for thousands of years in this specific area of the island.

Today, an increasing amount of historic data is coming to light every day, due to the systematic and rescue excavations of the Ephorate of Antiquities of Chania. Gathering all the information and comparing the evidence of all the settlements on the hill, it is verified that life begins in Neolithic times and continues down to the present.

The first step was to place all the information in a common database and create a map with all the evidence found over the last decades. Having analyzed all the radical incidences, interventions and decisions that formed the current image of the city and the hill, there can be an integrated comprehension of the historic palimpsest of the archaeological remains.

For example, the urban plan is similar in the prehistoric and historic periods, having a difference of almost 45 degrees from the Venetian plan, which is the same as the current one. There is also great interest in the development of the land uses on the Kastelli hill and on the existence of fortifications on the perimeter, which occasionally separated the acropolis from the city or enclosed the entire settlement.