The cave was discovered by Filippos Handzaridis on May 10, 1959 and became known for
its paleontological and paleoanthropological findings as early as 1960, after the
accidental discovery in the cave by the resident of Petraloni, H. Sarigiannidis,
of the famous fossilized human skull. The value of the find and its uniqueness gave
rise to a series of works inside and outside the cave. The stone and bone finds are
very important and constitute the first evidence of habitation in the Greek
geographical area.
From an anthropological point of view, the fossilized skull (Petralona 1) is a very
important find and is considered to belong to a man who lived about 700,000 years ago.
Petralona 1 has the face of a Neanderthal but the skull of a more archaic type.
Originally, Petralona 1 was classified as Homo neandertalensis, but later reclassified
as Homo erectus. Today, however, most researchers agree that it belongs to the species
of fossils found in Atapuerca and other places in Europe, Homo heidelbergensis.
