Petralona
Πετράλωνα | |
---|---|
Coordinates: 40°22′10″N 23°09′33″E / 40.369522°N 23.159120°E [1] | |
Country | Greece |
Administrative region | Central Macedonia |
Regional unit | Chalkidiki |
Municipality | Nea Propontida |
Municipal unit | Triglia |
Elevation | 270 m (890 ft) |
Population (2021)
[2] | |
• Community | 316 |
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 270 m (890 ft). [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.
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.
Media related to
Petralona, Chalkidiki at Wikimedia Commons
Petralona travel guide from Wikivoyage