Deep sand once covered the structures excavated at Kommas in southern Crete byJoseph W. Shaw and Maria C. Shaw of the University of Toronto. The site was once a working port for the Minoan palace at Phaistos . But it was not clear how ships could have landed safely on an open and harborless beach. Balloon photographs reveal an offshore anomaly and a reeffarther out, right. These may once have beenpart of a projecting cape that offered protection to ships. 46 Archaeology