Unlike Egypt, Mesopotamia or even Homeric Greece, the Minoan world was almost entirely unknown; the notion of a civilisation preceding that of Classical Greece was a real revelation. As at Troy, earlier levels were found below the palace at Knossos; they extended back into the prehistoric period and emphasised the depth of time that preceded the literate stages of these early civilisations. Archaeology alone provided almost everything that was known about Minoan civilisation, and this achievement paralleled the contribution made by prehistorians to the understanding of human antiquity