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 Location within the regional unit  | |
| Coordinates: 40°22′10″N 23°09′33″E[1] | |
| Country | Greece |
| Administrative region | Central Macedonia |
| Regional unit | Chalkidiki |
| Municipality | Nea Propontida |
| Elevation | 270 m (890 ft) |
| Population (2011)[2] | |
| • Municipal unit | 348 |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (EET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+3 (EEST) |
| Vehicle registration | ΧΚ |
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
- These are the coordinates of downtown Petralona from Google Maps. The cave is some distance away from the downtown area.
- "Απογραφή Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2011. ΜΟΝΙΜΟΣ Πληθυσμός" (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority.
- "PETRALONA Village CHALKIDIKI". Greek Travel Pages. 2018..
- (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.