<P> The archaeological site, Knossos, refers either to the palace complex itself or to that complex and several houses of similar antiquity nearby, which were inadvertently excavated along with the palace . To the south across the Vlychia is the Caravanserai . Further to the south are Minoan houses . The Minoan Road crossed the Vlychia on a Minoan Bridge, immediately entering the Stepped Portico, or covered stairway, to the palace complex . Near the northwest corner of the complex are the ruins of the House of the Frescoes . Across the Minoan Road entering from the northwest is the Arsenal . On the north side of the palace is the Customs House and the Northeast House . From there to the northeast is the modern village of Makrotoichos . Between it and the palace complex is the Royal Villa . On the west side is the Little Palace . </P> <P> The Royal Road is the last vestige of a Minoan road that connected the port to the palace complex . Today a modern road built over or replacing the ancient, Leoforos Knosou, serves that function and continues south . The excavated ancient Royal Road is part of the complex . The junction of the ancient and the modern roads is partly over the Little Palace . Just to the northwest of there, off the modern road, is where Evans chose to have Villa Ariadne built as his home away from home and an administrative center . The villa is on a slope overlooking the ruins . At the edge of the property, on the road, is a pre-excavation house renovated many times as a residence for the official Keeper, called the Taverna . Immediately to the south of the villa, over parts of the Little Palace, is the modern Stratigraphical Museum, a square building . Excavation continues sporadically on its grounds . To the south of the museum is a modern settlement across from the entrance to the west court . Parking facilities are to the north, off Leoforos Knosou . A band of fields has been left on the northwest between the palace complex and the city streets of Heraklion . The east and west are protected by north - south mountain ridges, between which is the valley of the Kairatos . </P> <P> The great palace was gradually built between 1700 and 1400 BC, with periodic rebuildings after destruction . Structures preceded it on Kephala hill . The features currently most visible date mainly to the last period of habitation, which Evans termed Late Minoan . The palace has an interesting layout--the original plan can no longer be seen due to the subsequent modifications . The 1,300 rooms are connected with corridors of varying sizes and direction, which differ from other contemporaneous palaces that connected the rooms via several main hallways . The 6 acres (24,000 m) of the palace included a theater, a main entrance on each of its four cardinal faces, and extensive storerooms (also called magazines). Within the storerooms were large clay containers (pithoi) that held oil, grains, dried fish, beans, and olives . Many of the items were processed at the palace, which had grain mills, oil presses, and wine presses . Beneath the pithoi were stone holes that were used to store more valuable objects, such as gold . The palace used advanced architectural techniques: for example, part of it was built up to five stories high . </P> <P> The palace had at least three separate water - management systems: one for supply, one for drainage of runoff, and one for drainage of waste water . </P>

Scholars estimate the palace of knossos may have been approximately how many stories tall