Ancient Human Presence in Greece: Discoveries from Megalopolis Basin

Jakarta –

So far, the earliest evidence of human sites in Greece is 250 thousand years old. However, new discoveries reveal that the first human presence in Greece is estimated to have existed since 280-700 thousand years ago.

This discovery was revealed through an ancient site in the Megapolis Basin in Arcadia, about 200 kilometers southwest of Athens, which contains one of the largest lignites in Greece.

The Megalopolis site has long been known to archaeologists as storing ancient fossils, but only a few excavation targets have been carried out.

Then recently, the Greek Ministry of Culture and Sports and the American School of Classical Studies in Athens found out more about the Megalopolis site through five years of excavations.

“Mining activity revealed five new sites in the basin, which exposed fossil-bearing sediments to much deeper depths, thereby exposing older remains,” said Katerina Harvati, a paleoanthropologist at the University of Tübingen in Germany and leader of the joint study, quoted from Live Science.

While it’s unclear which ancient hominins used the site, the researchers suspect it was ancient Homo sapiens.

Findings from Stone Tools to Deer Bones

At the most recent site, Choremi 7, which dates to around 280,000 years ago, stone tools were found as well as deer bones with evidence of scars.

Then Tripotamus 4 which is 400,000 years old, has the discovery of many stone tools and evidence of new stone work.

According to researchers, these sites are very important for understanding the evolutionary development of the Lower Paleolithic period around 300,000 years ago.

Relatives of Ancient Humans Allegedly Eaten Hippos

As well as items, archaeologists have also found evidence that early human relatives may have killed and eaten hippos.

Evidence of this was found at the Marathousa site, where stone tool marks were found on a hippopotamus skeleton. Meanwhile, nearby, in Marathousa 1 to be precise, there is evidence of slaughtering elephants.

“Hippo bone fragments from Marathousa 2, which were also found along with lithic artefacts, are the only finds from the Middle Pleistocene in southeastern Europe,” said Harvati.

The team also pointed out that exploitation of megafauna was most likely during this period.

Kyparissia 4 Sites Dating from 700,000 Years Ago

The next site is Kyparissia 4 which is 70 meters below ground level and is thought to have originated from 700,000 years ago.

This site is the oldest archaeological site from the Lower Paleolithic era in Greece. At this site, there are stone tools and the remains of giant deer, hippos, rhinos, elephants, and even extinct apes.

When glaciers covered most of Europe during the great ice age between 500,000 and 300,000 years ago, these areas would have been ice-free.

“Our research reconstructing the basin’s paleoenvironment has shown that it would have served as a refugium during Ice Age conditions, enabling populations of animals and plants, but also groups of hominins to survive during harsh glacial times when they would have disappeared from northern parts of the European continent.” Harvati.

In the Megapolis Basin, researchers not only found stone tools and fossils, but also found small animals, wood, plant remains, and even insects.

The basin also spans almost the entire middle Pleistocene, an important finding given that southeastern Europe was relatively unexplored for this time period.

“Therefore, the Megalopolis basin provides an important piece of the puzzle of human evolution in Europe,” said Harvati.

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