Petralona Cave ( Greek Σπήλαιο Πετραλώνων ) is a cave in Greece, located near the village of Petralona on the peninsula of Halkidiki , 55 km from Thessaloniki . The cave is of karst origin, located on the western slope of Mount Katsika, at an altitude of approximately 270 m above sea level. At the entrance to the cave, the Anthropological Museum of Petralona was created. Petralona cave is a place of discovery of the remains of the oldest man in Europe and has the most traces of human use of fire [1] .
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Research
The cave was discovered in May 1959 by Philip Fazaridis, a resident of the village of Petralona. The cave became world famous when on September 16, 1960, another resident of Petralona, Christ Sarriyannidis, found the skull of an archanthropist in the cave. Archaeological and anthropological studies began soon under the guidance of the professor of anthropology Aris Pulianos , who established that the discovered archanthropus is about 700 thousand years old, respectively, he is the oldest person in Europe . [2] The skeleton of a prehistoric man was found among the remains of primitive tools, as well as traces of the focus. Petralona Cave is also considered the oldest monument to the use of fire by man. The skull of the Petralonian archanthropus is now kept at the University of Aristotle in Thessaloniki.
These data are based on a detailed study of the cave stratigraphy , composed of 34 layers of different ages, nuclear, as well as facies and paleontological analysis. Among the fossils, the researchers found the remains of lions, hyenas, bears, panthers, elephants, rhinos, Pleistocene megacerin ( deer family ), bison, as well as 25 species of birds, 16 species of rodents and 17 species of bats. The age of some remains is about 5 million years.
The length of the Petralona cave is about 2 kilometers. The entrance is an artificial tunnel with a length of about 100 meters (the tunnel was built in 1974 [3] ), it passes through the eroded slope of the mountain and covers the old, natural entrance. The temperature in the cave remains constant throughout the year at around 17 degrees Celsius. On the sides of the aisles there are display cases containing stone and bone tools, bones, jaws and teeth of various animals found in the cave. Of some interest to tourists are several halls with bizarre stalactites , stalagmites and stalagnates .
See also
- Anthropological Museum (Petralona)
Notes
- ↑ Traces of fire at the Petralona Cave, the oldest known up to day , AN Poulianos, in Anthropos , 4: 144-146. 1977. (English)
- ↑ Petralona Cave - Two words about
- ↑ Σπηλαιο Αρχανθρωπων Πετραλωνα