Petralona Cave

Petralona cave is located about one kilometer from the village of Petralona in the prefecture of Halkidiki in Macedonia. It has been open to the public since 1979. Aris Poulianos discovered in the cave the traces of the habitation of Archangels about 700,000 years old, according to the estimates of the oldest European ancestors that have been found to date.

Petralona cave became known for its paleontological and paleoanthropological findings as early as 1960, after the accidental discovery in it by the resident of Petralona Ch. Sarrigianidis, of the famous fossilized human skull. The value of the find and its uniqueness gave rise to a series of works inside and outside the cave. In 1968 and the period 1974-1988 excavations were carried out in the cave by the (old) anthropologist Aris Poulianos.

Poulianos's publications about the cave speak of stone and bone tools, but the temporary nature of the publications does not give us a clear picture of them. The findings are definitely very important and are the first evidence of habitation in the Greek geographical area.

From an anthropological point of view, the fossilized skull is a very important finding, but there is no unanimity of experts on its dating and evaluation. The main views differ significantly and the skull is considered to belong to a man who lived about 700,000 years ago today at one time and about 200,000 years before today at the other.