Archanes developed relations with the Cyclades, Troy, Egypt and Syria during the early phases of Minoan civilization, already in the Prepalatial years, and continued so later, during the period of Minoan thalassocracy, from the eighteenth to the sixteenth century B.C. The multitude of ivory, bronze and gold objects, and especially a seal-cylinder from the East as well as the scarabs, the Cycladic idols, the Trojan-type jewelry found in the cemetery at Fourni etc., are substantial proofs of the relations that the inhabitants of this fertile region had developed with the world beyond their island.