The existence of a large number of caves in a country, where 65% of the land is limestone, is perfectly normal. Furthermore, Greece is the second country after China with the highest number of caves in the world. Several thousand of these formations have been explored, mapped and studied, and more than 100 have been described as of notable interest to visitors.
Petralona Cave
In 1959, a villager from Petralona, in Halkidiki, in northern Greece, found a small cleft in the slopes of Mount Katsika in his effort to find sources of water for the settlement’s needs. Two young adventurers were lowered by a rope to a depth of 13 meters and when they surfaced, they described the beautiful formations of stalactites and stalagmites that they had seen for the first time in their lives.
The same year, John Petrohilos and Anna Petrohilos, president of the Greek Society of Speleology, carried out the first scientific exploration and study of the cave. Those that followed, until 1964, revealed a large number of chambers and corridors, totaling 8 to 10 meters in height, with impressive decoration.The rock formations resemble giant cacti, pink pearls, sturdy columns or delicate curtains, and in several places the water ponds are fed with stalactite material.
In addition to its importance for natural beauty and size, the cave is very important as it is of anthropological and paleontological interest. In 1960, during the exploration work, the most important find was the skull of a primitive man, unique in Greece, which is now in the University of Thessaloniki . It lived about 200,000 years ago, it is the oldest testimony of the presence of humans in Greece.
The skull was covered with an inlay of stalactite material. Fossilized bones and teeth of regional fauna were also found, including cave bears, hyenas, lions, leopards, rhinos, deer, and equines. The fossils, along with a series of tools made of stone or bone, used by the primitive inhabitant of the cave, are exhibited in the Paleontological Museum, located a few steps from the archaeological site.
The research continued until 1976. With a grant from the Greek National Tourism Organization and the Greek Speleology Society, it was opened to the public in 1979. Covering an area of 10,400 square meters, the length of the corridor is about 2,000 meters and temperature. remains stable at 17 ° C (± 1 ° C) throughout the year. It is 800 meters from the Petralona settlement, 50 km from Polygyros, capital of Halkidiki Prefecture and 50 km from Thessaloniki.
