Petralona Cave Sights Information Map about Nea Moudania Chalkidiki

The cave Petralona in Halkidiki lies at the foot of the mountain goat near the village Petralona . Discovered in 1959 by residents of the village looking for water . It was called ' Red ' stones from terra rosa ( red earth ) which paints the stalactite and stalagmite formations .

In the cave , in 1960 , found human skull aged 25-35 years , quite elderly for data at that time, since the average life expectancy was 18-20 years . Belongs to type archanthropus ( ie upright man ) transitional form from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens neandertalensis.

Inside the cave were found scattered bone needles to be used on the Arhanthropos to support skins around his body and traces of fire which lit to heat up and bake food. Even

found many stone and bone tools , which he made to chase the prey. The areas of the cave must be served as residence of people , when they started the period of glaciation .

According to Aris  Poulianos , who conducted investigations in the cave and dated the finds by the method of electron spin , the Arhanthropos Petralona must have lived 700,000 years ago , and traces of fire is approximately 700,000 to 1,000,000 years and is the oldest found so far on Earth .

In the chamber of the cave named ' giants ' Cemetery bones were found 14 different species of carnivorous animals like big bear, panther , lion , hyena , wolf , rhinoceros , deer and rodents are not currently in Halkidiki . Besides the great importance of the cave of paleontological terms , areas of interest and terms of drip trim .

Also impressed with the ' golden rain ' , ie very thin stalactites resembling raindrops .

The Petralona cave has an average temperature throughout the year is 16 degrees C. and visited the tourist trail formed is 2 kilometers. In halls fitted models archanthropuses .