Sat, Apr 18, 2020
Petralona Cave is one of Europe’s most impressive and important caves thanks to its wealth of fossils (one of the richest collections in Europe) and to the discovery of a human skull that dates back approximately 700.000 years and it is located near the village of Petralona, on Katsika Hill.
The cave was discovered by Philippos Hantzaridis on May 10, 1959 and became known for his palaeontological and paleoanthropological findings as early as 1960, after the accidental discovery in the cave by Petralona resident X. Sariyiannidis, the famous fossilized human skull. The value of the find and its uniqueness gave rise to a series of work inside and outside the cave. In 1968 and in the period 1974-1988 excavations were carried out in the cave by the anthropologist Aris Poulianos.
Nature has always been an unpredictable designer. This is more than obvious entering Petralona Cave, formed around a million years ago. The locals call it "the red-rock cave" due to the colour that the bauxite deposits give to the stone. The natural hollow stretches over a zone of 10,400m² and comprises of a progression of stoas, chambers, high roofs and pools, loaded with stalactites, stalagmites, draperies and shields, segments and different arrangements.