The first settlement in Crete dates from the Neolithic Age. Knossos (the main source of information for this period in the southern Aegean), which later evolved into one of the most significant Bronze Age centres, even as early as the Aceramic Neolithic period was already highly advanced.

The buildings of strata IX to XIII (which belonged to the Early Neolithic period in Knossos) were rectangular in shape, and had many small rooms and probably flat roofs too. In this period, the first examples of ceramics appear, indicating the introduction of pottery in Crete, presumably from the East.

Stone tools and loom weights show that Crete participated in the technological advances of the countryside which were characteristic of the Neolithic period. The female figurines indicate the religious beliefs and social models of the period.
The late Neolithic period at Knossos produced buildings with stable kilns, the type of which is unique on Crete even in the later phases. In the same period, unprocessed copper began to be used in the making of tools. In other parts of Crete there was a trend for more systematic and permanent settlement.
Finds at Knossos show that throughout the Neolithic period, the dead were buried inside the settlements, but by the Late Neolithic Age, burials in caves and inaccessible places became more common.