Petralona cave, Petralona

The Petralona cave also Cave of the Red Stones, a karst formation, is located at 300 m above sea-level on the western foot of Mount Katsika, about 1 km east of the village of Petralona, about 35 km south-east of Thessaloniki city on the Chalkidiki peninsula, Greece. The site came to public attention when in 1960 a fossilized archaic human skull was found. The cave had been discovered accidentally only a year earlier after erosion had left clefts in the rock. "Bejeweled" with impressive stalactite and stalagmite formations and holding an abundance of fossils, the cave soon attracted geologists and paleontologists. After decades of excavations the cave is open to the public and scientific work is documented and presented in an adjacent archaeological museum. ()