The site includes the remains of an extensive settlement noted for its monumental NeoPalatial and PostPalatial period buildings especially the large Royal Villa.

It is located in the Mesara Plain about three kilometers from the larger Palace of Phaistos, with which it appears to have had close political and economic ties.

[5] All of the Linear A finds date to the Late Minoan IB period, before the site was destroyed by fire and then rebuilt.

It has been proposed as the name of Haghia Tradia based on the large amount of grain storage shown which matches that excavated at the site.

After an occupation gap of three centuries the site came back into use in the Hellenistic period (323-30 BC) with several shrines being built.

[18] Nearby are two chapels: Hagia Triada in the deserted village and Hagios Georgios, built during the Venetian period.

[20] While work proceeded at nearby Phaistos, Hagia Triada was excavated from 1902 to 1908 by a group from the Italian Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene, directed by Federico Halbherr and Luigi Pernier.

[21][22][23] The site includes a town and a miniature "palace", an ancient drainage system servicing both, and Early Minoan tholos tombs.

[28] From 1977 to 2012 a team from the Italian Archaeological School at Athens led by Vincenzo La Rosa excavated at the site.

It has been suggested that a number of grave goods found in the nearby Tomba degli Ori originally resided in this tomb.

On the short sides there is a scene of goats (earlier identified as horses or griffin) drawing a chariot, led by a female figure.

[42] In the center of one of the long sides of the sarcophagus is the scene of a bull lying on a table which has two goats squatting underneath.

[43] The second long side, generally called the North or Front (because it faced the door of the tomb), is divided into four directional zones.

In the next leftward zone three men in procession face the armless figure bearing two bulls and a crescent shaped white boat.

In the leftmost zone a man dressed in a long robe is playing a seven-stringed lyre (Phorminx) preceded by a woman who is wearing a crown and carrying two baskets.

[44][45] An agrarian procession is depicted on the black steatite "Harvester Vase" which was found in Hagia Triada along with the Chieftain Cup.

The rightmost faving figure stands in front of a pillar and wears three necklaces, several arm bands and bracelets, and a belted short kilt with dagger.