One hint to me is that Crete had been fairly dormant for a long time before Minoan Crete. Yet they still were known as an ancient power. It must have been a really long time ago.
IIRC, after the Thera or Santorini eruption, the remnant of the Cretans eventually migrated to what is today southern Israel and became the Philistines, who eventually were absorbed into the Jewish people....................
?