Petralona cave

Petralona cave
Cave of the Red Stones

Petralona skull covered by stalagmite

Central Makedonia

Location Greece, Chalcidice
Coordinates 40°22′11″N 23°09′33″E / 40.369697°N 23.159151°E / 40.369697; 23.159151Coordinates: 40°22′11″N 23°09′33″E / 40.369697°N 23.159151°E / 40.369697; 23.159151
Length 2 kilometres (1 mi)
Elevation 300 m (984 ft)
Discovery 1959
Geology Mesozoic Karst
Entrances 1
Access The Petralona Cave and Anthropological Museum
Website http://www.petralona-cave.gr

The Petralona cave (Greek: Σπήλαιο Πετραλώνων) also Cave of the Red Stones (Greek: Σπήλαιο των κόκκινες πέτρες), a Karst formation - is located at 300 m (984 ft) above sea-level on the western foot of Mount Katsika, 1 km (1 mi) east of the eponymous village, about 35 km (22 mi) south-east of Thessaloniki city on the Chalkidiki peninsula, Greece. The site came to public attention when in 1960 a fossilized hominid skull was found. The cave had been discovered accidentally only a year earlier (1959) 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.[1]

The cave's most prominent fossil specimen, since known among paleoanthropologists as the "Petralona Skull", named Archanthropus europaeus petraloniensis by Aris Poulianos, former head of the Anthropological Association of Greece. He considers it the oldest European hominid ever found and assessed it to be 800.000 years old. Yet "there was the constant problem that the skull was an isolated find" as other scientists strongly disagree[2] and the find has been a continuing cause of controversy since. The Anthropological Association's conclusions and results are in direct conflict with accepted speciation models of the genus Homo and the chronology of the Out of Africa theory.[3]

For a number of times excavations on the site were delayed and/or had to be discontinued, first in 1967 and the following years in relation to the Greek coup d'état, again in 1983, according to Nickos A. Poulianos the Ministry of Culture giving no reason why it ceased to re-issue the excavation concession until "in 1997 the Anthropological Association of Greece, after 15 years of trials, was justified by the Supreme Court and was ordered the continuation of its works in the cave."[4] Dr. Aris Poulianos, President of the Anthropological Association of Greece has repeatedly accused the Greek government, claiming it is conspiring to suppress his discoveries as in 2012 excavation rights were revoked again.[5]

The on-site Anthropological Museum of Petralona displays a selection of the cave's findings.

Discovery

Petralona cave entrance
Petralona cave tourist path
Petralona cave formations

The cave was discovered accidentally in 1959 by Fillipos Chatzaridis, a local shepherd who was looking for a spring. In his effort to find a water source he found a small cleft on the slopes of Mount Katsika. Two men were lowered down and later described a large number of chambers and corridors, totaling 8 to 10 meters high with rich and beautiful formations of speleothems (stalactites and stalagmites).

The cave developed during the Mesozoic (Jurassic) limestone, its sediments are divided into several stratigraphic levels.[6] "The rock formations resemble giant cactus, pink pearls, sturdy columns or delicate curtains, and in several places water ponds are fed by stalactite material. Covering an area of 10,400 m2 (111,945 sq ft), the length of the corridors is about 2,000 m (6,562 ft) and temperature throughout the year remains stable at 17 ° C (± 1 º C)."[7] The first research of 1959 was undertaken by the Greek speleologist Ioannis Petrocheilos. He found numerous bones of animals, many of them covered with cave coral.[8]

The Skull

The skull of the Archanthropus was according to Aris Poulianos found by another villager, Christos Sariannidis in 1960, hanging at the wall about 30 cm (12 in) above ground, where it was held by sinter. Aris N. Poulianos states, that "early estimates at the time placed the age of the hominid remains to around 70,000 years".[9] The Petralona skull, its lower jaw missing and completely "encrusted by brown calcite soon after the death of the individual" was estimated to be about 700,000 years old by Dr. Aris Poulianos, head of the excavation team since 1965.[10] He announced that "the date was based on analyses of the cave’s stratigraphy and the accumulated sediments".[11]

In 1981, the age of the Petralona skull deduced by Poulianos was investigated and the protocol published in the Nature journal. The scientists involved used electron spin resonance measurements of the calcite encrustation and of bone fragments and dated the age of the skull to between 160,000 and 240,000 years.[12] However, Poulianos states that his excavations in the cave since 1968 provide evidence of human occupation from the Pleistocene era.[9] The Petralona hominid, specifically, was located in a stratigraphic layer containing the highest amount of tools and traces of habitation. Poulianos claims that the age of the overall layer is approximately 670,000 years old, based on electron spin resonance measurements.[9][13] Other researchers point out, that contextual animal fossils "found with it are known elsewhere from approximately 350,000 years ago".[14][15] In 1987 researchers announced that the cranium can't be older than 620.000 years after palaeo-magnetic and mineral magnetic studies of the cave's sediments.[16]

Layer 10

In 1992 an international team published its results of a Uranium-series dating analysis of the small cavern, called "The Mausoleum" where the skull was allegedly found and the sediments, named "Layer 10" by Poulianos. The results confirm earlier findings "that the whole of layer 10 represents a long time span, from about 160 ka to more than 350 ka". The minimum age refers to the brown calcite layer, that covered and cemented the hominid skull to the wall. The fossils encrustation is insufficient to date it by alpha-spectrometric, Uranium-series methods, yet its minimum age was concluded to be also 160.000 years.[11]

Today, most academics who have analyzed the Petralona remains classify the hominid as Homo erectus.[10] However, the Archanthropus of Petralona has also been classified as a Homo heidelbergensis,[17] Neanderthal (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) and as an early generic class of Homo sapiens. A. Poulianos, on the other hand, believes that the Petralona cranium is derived from an independent class of hominids unrelated to Homo erectus.

The skull of Petralona. Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki.

Runnels and van Andel summarise the situation as such : "The only known hominid fossil in Greece that may be relevant is the Petralona hominid, found by chance in 1960 in a deep cavern in the Chalkidiki. Controversy surrounds the interpretation of this cranium, and it has been variously classified as Homo erectus, as a classic Neanderthal (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis), and as an early representative of Homo sapiens in a generalized sense. The consensus among today's paleoanthropologists [is centered around the idea] that the cranium belongs to an archaic hominid distinguished from Homo erectus and both the classic Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans. Whatever the final classification may be, the cranium has been provisionally dated to ca. 200-400 thousand years old and it is thus possible that the Petralona hominid is a representative of the lineage responsible for the Thessalian Lower Paleolithic sites."[18]

The Anthropological Association of Greece has continued to announce new findings in the cave, such as 4 isolated teeth,[19] then two 800,000 year old pre-human skeletons,[20][21] a great number of fossils of various species, evidence of the oldest use of fire known to this day[22] and a 11 Million years old girl. Ignoring scientific methodology, these statements were to supplement wanton conclusions and pseudo-scientific theories. Serious publishers such as Nature or Science refuse to publish the Anthropological Association's submissions.[23]

The fossils are preserved at the Geology School of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki since 1960.[24]

Fossil fauna

Animal fossils of numerous species were found in the cave:[25]

Fish

Amphibians

Testudo graeca

Reptiles

Fulica atra
Strix aluco

Birds

Sorex minutus

Mammals

Insectivore

Primates

Rhinolophus mehelyi
Savi's pipistrelle

Chiroptera (bats)

Lagomorpha

Hystrix (porcupine)

Rodents

Skull of Ursus deningeri
mounted skeleton of Homotherium

Carnivorans

Proboscidea

Perissodactyla

Bison schoetensacki

Artiodactyla

References

  1. ↑ "Petralona Cave". πήλαιο Πετραλώνων. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Petralona 1". Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  3. ↑ "The human skull that challenges the Out of Africa theory". Ancient Origins. January 29, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  4. ↑ "THE 40th ANNIVERSARY SINCE THE DISCOVERY OF THE PETRALONA ARCHANTHROPUS' SKULL = By Dr. Nickos A. Poulianos, President of the Anthropological Association of Greece". ANTHROPOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF GREECE. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Greek Archaeologist: Government Suppressing Truth, Destroying Evidence Europeans Evolved Separately". Jason Colavito. February 20, 2014. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  6. ↑ "New analysis of the Pleistocene carnivores from Petralona Cave (Macedonia, Greece) based on the Collection of the Thessaloniki Aristotle University". academia edu. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Petralona Cave". GNTO. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Spilaio Archantropon Petralona - Spilaio Petralona - Petralona Cave - Kókkines Pétres - Cave of the Red Stones". showcaves com. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 Aris N. Poulianos. Pre-Sapiens Man in Greece. In Current Anthropology, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 287-288. June 1981.
  10. 1 2 Francis Spencer. History of Physical Anthropology: An Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis, p. 454. 1997. ISBN 0-8153-0490-0.
  11. 1 2 LATHAM, A. G.; SCHWARCZ, H. P. (February 1992). "THE PETRALONA HOMINID SITE: URANIUM-SERIES RE-ANALYSIS OF ?LAYER 10?CALCITE AND ASSOCIATED PALAEOMAGNETIC ANALYSES" (PDF). Archaeometry. 34 (1): 135–140. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4754.1992.tb00483.x.
  12. ↑ Hennig, G. J.; Herr, W.; Weber, E.; Xirotiris, N. I. (6 August 1981). "ESR-dating of the fossil hominid cranium from Petralona Cave, Greece". Nature. 292 (5823): 533–536. doi:10.1038/292533a0.
  13. ↑ Catling, H. W. (3 October 2012). "Archaeology in Greece, 1981–82". Archaeological Reports. 28: 3–62. doi:10.1017/S0570608400001769.
  14. ↑ "Petralona skull - Hominin fossil". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Festschrift - edited by Universidad Autónoma de México, Instituto de Investigaciones Antropológicas". Google Books. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Palaeomagnetic and mineral magnetic studies of sediments from Petralona Cave Greece". Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Dublin, Leinster, Ireland Archaeometry. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
  17. ↑ "EARLY HOMINIDS IN THE BALKANS" (PDF). University Of Crete. Retrieved December 22, 2015.
  18. ↑ Runnels, Curtis; van Andel, Tjeerd H. (January 1993). "The Lower and Middle Paleolithic of Thessaly, Greece". Journal of Field Archaeology. 20 (3): 299–317. doi:10.1179/jfa.1993.20.3.299.
  19. ↑ Signals of Evolution in the Territory of Greece. Paleoanthropological Findings. By Christos Valsamis. In Intensive course in biological anthropology of the European Anthropological Association, 16–30 June 2007.
  20. ↑ Catling, H. W. (3 October 2012). "Archaeology in Greece, 1981–82". Archaeological Reports. 28: 3–62. doi:10.1017/S0570608400001769.
  21. ↑ Poulianos, Aris N. (July 1984). "Once more on the age and stratigraphy of the petralonian man" (PDF). Journal of Human Evolution. 13 (5): 465–467. doi:10.1016/S0047-2484(84)80059-7.
  22. ↑ Traces of fire at the Petralona Cave, the oldest known up to day, A. N. Poulianos, in Anthropos, 4: 144-146. 1977.
  23. ↑ "Re: Homo erectus trilliensis". Pantelis Topalis, Susan S. Chin. Retrieved December 17, 2015.
  24. ↑ Baryshnikov, Gennady F.; Tsoukala, Evangelia (July 2010). "New analysis of the Pleistocene carnivores from Petralona Cave (Macedonia, Greece) based on the Collection of the Thessaloniki Aristotle University". Geobios. 43 (4): 389–402. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2010.01.003.
  25. ↑ The species of the fossilized fauna from Petralona Cave.
  26. ↑ Baryshnikov, Gennady F.; Tsoukala, Evangelia (July 2010). "New analysis of the Pleistocene carnivores from Petralona Cave (Macedonia, Greece) based on the Collection of the Thessaloniki Aristotle University" (PDF). Geobios. 43 (4): 389–402. doi:10.1016/j.geobios.2010.01.003.
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