This is one of the three ancient cities of Amorgos. It is located above the port of Katapola, on the south slope of the hill. The ruins of the ancient city, like other cities of Amorgos, were identified in 1837 by L. Ros who described the buildings in detail. The findings of the first excavations (mainly inscriptions which are now in the museum of Syros) were performed by the French School at Athens in 1888 and they added new information concerning the history of the city from the Hellenistic period (3rd century BC) to the Roman period (3rd century AD).
Regular excavations began in 1981 by Lila Marangos, a professor of the University of Ioannina, under the patronage of the Archaeological Society. The remains that were discovered radically changed the picture drawn from the information of the inscriptions till that moment. In 1985 it was discovered that the oldest habitation in Minoa dates back to the Late Neolithic period (4th century BC). Artefacts, handmade pottery, clay figurines and obsidian arrowheads found on the top of the hill (altitude 255m. from the sea) and in the caves in the Northern slope, are proof that this is the oldest settlement in 4th century BC.
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