The sub-Minoan refuge village of Karphi takes its name from the adjacent peak on the mountains surrounding the Lasithi Plain. It stands 1,100 metres above sea level. Today it is completely overgrown and it has suffered considerable erosion since the ground plans were drawn by the archaeologists (including J.D.S. Pendlebury) who excavated the site between 1937 and 1939. Consequently the original plan of the site is very difficult to discern on the ground as will be seen in the photographs below. Only one third of the site is thought to have been excavated. The site offers commanding views of the entrance to the Lasithi plain and north central Crete.

There was probably a Peak Sanctuary on the site during the Middle Minoan period. The refuge village, which dates from Late Minoan IIIC was, in Hutchinson's words, "evidence of a gallant attempt by refugees of Minoan race, whose fathers had known better conditions, to construct something that might recall a small market town comparable to Gournia, but on a site that was exposed to bitter weather in winter and that had obviously been chosen for reasons of defence rather than of comfort." The population is estimated to have been about 3,500 and they lived by herding animals and hunting as well as cultivating olives at much lower altitudes than the town itself. The settlement is protected from the north wind which means that despite its altitude it could have been inhabited all the year, although it would have been an unpleasant place to live in the winter. Nevertheless the town had mainly single storey houses, paved streets and yards. Two cemeteries were located not far from the village near the two springs from which water was available. Remains of seventeen small tholos tombs were found around the Vitzelovrysis spring and four near the Astividero spring.

The village had its own civic shrine, and an altar was identified during the excavations.The cult objects show the continuity of Minoan religion long after the Minoans had lost political power on the island. Hutchinson suggests that the site was occupied for 100 years from around 1050 BCE to 950 BCE.