Petralona, Chalkidiki

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Petralona
Πετράλωνα
Petralona cave entrance
Petralona cave entrance
Petralona is located in Greece
Petralona
Petralona
Location within the regional unit
Dimos triglias.png
Coordinates: 40°22′10″N 23°09′33″E / 40.369522°N 23.159120°E / 40.369522; 23.159120Coordinates: 40°22′10″N 23°09′33″E / 40.369522°N 23.159120°E / 40.369522; 23.159120[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

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]

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. ^ a b "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.

External links[]

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

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