The first settlement at Akrotiri was founded in the middle of the fifth millennium BCE as a small village. Over a period of many centuries, the community expanded to the north and became an important metallurgy hub and gateway for the transportation of goods from the islands of the Aegean to Crete. The dead were buried in rock-cut graves just north of the settlement. Around 2100 BCE an earthquake struck Akrotiri and gave its inhabitants the first opportunity to enlarge and modernize their town. They cleared the cemetery of any skeletal remains and grave goods and filled the empty graves with debris from the earthquake. Then they built new houses on the reinforced ground.