The Anthropological Association of Greece invites you to visit the Cave and the Anthropological Museum in Petralona, located in the western foothills of the ancient terms Kalavria (Katsika).

HISTORICAL LOOK-UP
"Barba" Philip, as he was called, had noticed that among the limestone rocks there on the slopes of Kalavria there was a slit (~ 0.7 m), full of stones and soil, which had the following characteristics: During the winter months around the opening the snow melted earlier than other parts of the slope of the mountain and the air was warmer than the air of the atmosphere. On the summer months the air was cooler. From the same point also occasionally came a dull soft noise, like a breath. Philip assumed that underneath was passing Groundwater that kept air temperature above the slot steady, creating also a noise like blowing.

After many urgings by F. Hatzaridis the spring of 1959, a group of man from Petralona reached over the slit and dug inside, pouring soil off the hole with and saw that it was driving in a vertical narrow underground passage. Two young villagers with the help of ropes and artificial light descended to a depth of 7-10 meters. There, to their great surprise, instead of underground waters, saw the inside of an unknown cave.

DESCRIPTION
The entrance of the cave is an artificial tunnel about 100 meters. The indoor temperature remains stable at around 17 degrees Celsius winter - summer. Right and left on the walls of the tunnel are display cases containing stone and bone tools, bones, jaws and teeth of various animals.

Where the rail of the wagon stops and the artificial tunnel comes to an end, begins the actual cave, starting with the small "hall of the Anthropological Association of Greece."  At this point, on the left side, there is a hypothetical representation of Archanthropus life. Right in the same room, beneath a transparent plastic, are revealed and remain in place horse bones, jaw of one deer, one wild horses jaw and a Palaeolithic tool from quartz.

Moving west we enter the "hall of Aristotle," who is considered among others the father of Anthropology too, and was among the first who conceived the theory for the evolution of life. In this room the found during excavations many fossils bear.

Is likely to Archanthropus sometimes found the bears hibernating in the cave kill them and then fed with the meat, also using leather for clothing, bones for the production of bone tools etc. In the "Hall of Aristotle» there is a sculpture of a statue of a bear.

Then we arrive at the hall of the excavator of Petralona "Aris Poulianos." Here, at a depth of 30 meters has been found part of a skull of a young Archanthropos.

Returning, we enter the "hall of the Mediterranean ', which descend to the left is the representation of a fire. There have been found traces of fire burnt bones and ashes dating to 700,000 years ago and represent the oldest fire is lit by hand of man on Earth. (The original ashes exhibited in Museum of Anthropology).

The last visited section is the "Mausoleum", which is the drier and warmer chamber of the cave. Here they found the skull and skeleton, who was a man and had a height of 155-157 cm. He died at the age of about 30-35 years, very old for his time, with an average age ranged then between 18 and 20 years. The facial features of Petralonian Archanthropus witness the oldest ancestor of Europeans who has been found so far.

MUSEUM TOUR
Entering the Anthropological Museum of Anthropological Association of Greece the visitor sees a mural in the lobby, which represents the scale of evolution of life, according to Aristotle. Although evolutionary theory today has been enriched with more detailed evidence, impressive is the segregation in vertebrates and invertebrates in suspensions and anemia and that nature goes from inanimate to animate.

In the exhibit hall, there are fossils from the excavations of the Anthropological Association of Greece from open sites (Triglia, Eordaia etc), which traces the ancestors of the Archanthropus of the precave period.

Following are the findings from the cave itself (including stone and bone tools, fossilized bones, traces of the oldest fire ever lighted hand man on Earth), and for comparison Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic tools from different areas of Greece, but also some similar findings and casts from other countries.

In the center of the hall there is an exact representation of the area that the skull and bones of ancient man was found, a work done on a long collaboration with architect Peter Devoli and his wife Maria.
A total of 400 shelves with bilingual explanatory legible signs for over 2500 finds are exposed to the museum

HOURS
The entrance is permitted daily and all holidays, escorted by a tour guide, from 9:00 to 16:00 in winter and 18:00 in the summer. Priority line is kept. The ticket price is the same for the Cave and Anthropological Museum: The individual - 7 euros, the group (over 25 people) - 5 euros, while the students (a planned school trip) 4 euros. Further information may be obtained at tel: 23730-71671.