Halkidiki Anthropological Museum

Location: Petralona
Don't miss: Museums guide (free admission dates and other useful info)

The Anthropological Museum in Petralona, Halkidiki: The Anthropological Museum of Halkidiki is located in the village of Petralona, which lies at a distance of 35 km from Thessaloniki. The museum was established by the Anthropological Society of Greece in 1978 and opened its doors to the public in 1979. Findings from the famous Cave of Petralona, as well as reconstructions of the cave's interior, which played an important role on the museum's foundation, are currently on display.

The visitors will have the chance to gain much insight into the prehistoric culture of Greece. The artifacts indicate the extent of the entire palaeoanthropological area of Greece. The most outstanding of the exhibits in the museum is the replica of the mausoleum of Archanthropus Europeus Petraloniensis. Equally interesting are the oldest traces of fire that were ever found, about one million years ago.

Other exhibits include primitive tools made of stone and bones, about 11 million years ago, and artifacts from the pre cave-dwelling era, all found in the area of Nea Triglia village in Halkidiki, while there are many more items from the island of Evvia, the area of Ptolemaida in Halkidiki, the Aegean Islands, as well as from various other parts of Greece, and Africa.

The museum also includes murals made by the painter Christos Kagaras showing the emergence of life on Earth, and others with the Archanthropus teaching children how tools of stone and bone can be made, with the evolution of life according to Aristotle, and the progress of human life over the last 11 million years according to Poulianos. The museum boasts of a library, a conference room, as well as geological and paleoanthropological conservation workshops.

The photo is from www.aee.gr