Our picture of Iron Age and Archaic Crete is constantly changing due to the increasing number of field investigations that reveal new information on these centuries. Results from many recent excavations (at sites like Azoria in Eastern Crete and Thronos/Kephala (ancient Sybrita) in the Western region of the island) will eventually transform our view of the period. The focus of this particular study is centred on sites with a long-established history of research. Sites like, for example, Phaistos, Knossos, Praisos, Axos, Dreros, Gortyn, Vrokastro, Kavousi, Kato Syme and Aphrati have thus received a large amount of attention in the analyses. However, the author has also tried to introduce lesser well-known sites of a rural character in order to obtain a more varied rendering of Iron Age and Archaic Crete. As the title indicates, she is interested in site variations within the different site-categories and how these change during the 8th, 7th and 6th centuries.