Cave Petralona - details and images
Located about 78 km northwest of Neos Marmaras, Petralona cave - where the skull was found the oldest specimen of Homo sapiens on the European continent, Archanthropus petraloniensis europaeus, is one of the most visited tourist attractions of the peninsula of Halkidiki.
Cave developed in the western slope of massive limestone Katsiki, 300 m altitude, was discovered five decades ago by a resident of Petralona, winning international recognition, with bringing to light of Archanthropus in 1960. Measurements made on cave stratigraphy, which was identified Archanthropus europaeus petraloniensis study Paleolithic tools and specific paleofaunei diagnosis, present in all the 34 strata, it assigns absolute age of 700,000 years.
Skull in perfect preservation, lacking only the lower jaw, belongs to a man who died at age 32, fairly advanced age for standards of those times. In the cave were found trace fossils, belonging to the oldest fire ignited by man, dating back 1 million years, which shows that prehistoric hominids inhabited already in the cave at that time.
Enter the cave is a tunnel 100 m long artificial, dug into the mountain slope deposits from erosion, which covered the former natural input. Specially designed walkways, cross illuminated rooms, in which life-size dioramas, introduces the inhabitants of the prehistoric cave fires warming up before.
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