Petralona, Chalkidiki

Petralona (Greek: Πετράλωνα) is a small locality in Chalkidiki, Macedonia, Greece. It is 6 km N-W of Triglia and 35 km S-E of Thessaloniki. Its altitude is 270 m.[3]

Petralona
Πετράλωνα
Petralona cave entrance
Petralona cave entrance
Petralona is located in Greece
Petralona
Petralona
Location within the regional unit
Coordinates: 40°22′10″N 23°09′33″E[1]
CountryGreece
Administrative regionCentral Macedonia
Regional unitChalkidiki
MunicipalityNea Propontida
Elevation
270 m (890 ft)
Population
 (2011)[2]
  Municipal unit
348
Time zoneUTC+2 (EET)
  Summer (DST)UTC+3 (EEST)
Vehicle registrationΧΚ

It is famous for the eponymous cave at about 1 km from the village, the Petralona cave in which was discovered one of the earliest European humanoids.

Prehistory

The Petralona cave, at the foot of Mount Katsika, was discovered in 1959 by a local looking for a spring. In it was found in 1960 the Petralona skull, extremely well preserved, dated to more than 700,000 years. It was named Archanthropus europaeus petraloniensis (Poulianos, 1976).[4] This is considered as one of the oldest European Homo erectus specimen found so far.

References

  1. These are the coordinates of downtown Petralona from Google Maps. The cave is some distance away from the downtown area.
  2. "Απογραφή Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2011. ΜΟΝΙΜΟΣ Πληθυσμός" (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority.
  3. "PETRALONA Village CHALKIDIKI". Greek Travel Pages. 2018..
  4. (in English) « Pre-Sapiens Man in Greece ». By Aris Nickos Poulianos, Current Anthropology, vol. 22, n° 3, June 1981, pp. 287-288.

Media related to Petralona, Chalkidiki at Wikimedia Commons
Petralona travel guide from Wikivoyage
* An important neolithic site: The Petralona Cave and Anthropological Museum.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.