Ancient stone tools take origin of Greek archaeology back by quarter-million years

Deep in an open coal mine in sourn Greece, researchers have discovered antiquities-rich country's oldest archaeological site, which dates to 700,000 years ago and is associated with modern humans’ hominin ancestors.

find announced Thursday would drag dawn of Greek archaeology back by as much as a quarter of a million years, although older hominin sites have been discovered elsewhere in Europe. oldest, in Spain, dates to more than a million years ago.

Greek site was one of five investigated in Megalopolis area during a five-year project involving an international team of experts, a Culture Ministry statement said.

It was found to contain rough stone tools from Lower Palaeolithic period — about 3.3 million to 300,000 years ago — and remains of an extinct species of giant deer, elephants, hippopotamus, rhinoceros and a macaque monkey.

project was directed by Panagiotis Karkanas of American School of Classical Studies at Ans, Eleni Panagopoulou from Greek Culture Ministry and Katerina Harvati, a professor of paleoanthropology at University of Tübingen in Germany.

artifacts are “simple tools, like sharp stone flakes, belonging to Lower Paleolithic stone tool industry,” co-directors said in comments e-mailed to Associated Press.

y said it's possible items were produced by Homo antecessor, hominin species dating from that period in or parts of Europe. Homo antecessor is believed to have been last common ancestor of modern humans and ir extinct Neanderthal cousins, who diverged about 800,000 years ago.

“However, we will not be able to be sure until hominin fossil remains are recovered,” project directorss said. “( site) is oldest currently known hominin presence in Greece, and it pushes back known archaeological record in country by up to 250,000 years.”

tools, which were likely used for butchering animals and processing wood or or plant matter, were me about 700,000 years ago, though researchers said y were awaiting furr analyses to refine dating.

“We are very excited to be able to report this finding, which demonstrates great importance of our region for understanding hominin migrations to Europe and for human evolution in general,” three co-directors said.

Anor of sites investigated in Megalopolis area of sourn Peloponnese peninsula — home of enormously later sites of Mycenae, Olympia and Pylos — contained oldest Middle Palaeolithic remains found in Greece, dating to roughly 280,000 years ago.

“(It's) one of oldest sites in Europe that have tools characteristic of so called Middle Palaeolithic tool industry, suggesting that Greece may have played a significant role in (stone) industry developments in Europe,” researchers said.

Megalopolis plain has for deces been mined for coal to supply a local power plant. It has long been known as a source of fossils, and in ancient times huge prehistoric bones dug up re were linked with Greek myths of a long-vanished race of giants that fought gods of Olympus. Some ancient writers cited Megalopolis as site of a major battle in that supernatural war.