Petralona, Chalkidiki

Petralona
Πετράλωνα
Petralona
Location within the regional unit
Coordinates: 40°23′N 23°9′E / 40.383°N 23.150°E / 40.383; 23.150Coordinates: 40°23′N 23°9′E / 40.383°N 23.150°E / 40.383; 23.150
Country Greece
Administrative region Central Macedonia
Regional unit Chalkidiki
Municipality Nea Propontida
Elevation 660 m (2,170 ft)
Population (2011)[1]
 • Municipal unit 348
Time zone UTC+2 (EET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+3 (EEST)
Vehicle registration ΧΚ

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 660 m.[2]

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.

Petralona cave entrance

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).[3] This is considered as one of the oldest European Homo erectus specimen found so far.

References

  1. ↑ "Απογραφή Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2011. ΜΟΝΙΜΟΣ Πληθυσμός" (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority.
  2. ↑ Petralona village.
  3. ↑ (in English) « Pre-Sapiens Man in Greece ». By Aris Nickos Poulianos, Current Anthropology, vol. 22, n° 3, June 1981, pp. 287-288.
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