Franchthi Cave

Franchthi Cave or Frankhthi Cave (Σπήλαιον Φράγχθι) is an archaeological site overlooking Kiladha Bay, in the Argolic Gulf, opposite the village of Kiladha in southeastern Argolis, Greece. Humans first occupied the cave during the Upper Paleolithic, appearing around 38,000 BC (and possibly earlier.) Groups continued to live in or seasonally visit the cave throughout the Mesolithic and Neolithic eras, with occasional short episodes of apparent abandonment. Last occupied around 3,000 BC (Final Neolithic), Franchthi was used as a shelter for around 35,000 years and is one of the most thoroughly studied sites from the stone age in Southeast Europe. T. W. Jacobsen, a professor of classical archaeology and classical studies at Indiana University, began excavations at Franchthi Cave in 1967. The dig was only intended to temporarily occupy Jacobsen and his fellow researcher, M.H. Jameson, for one short season, while they waited for land use issues to be resolved at a nearby site. But it soon became clear that Franchthi Cave was more important than they had anticipated. The excavation, overseen by Jacobsen, would continue for nearly a decade, ending in 1976. Since then numerous scholars have examined the extensive finds. During much of its history Franchthi was significantly further from the coastline than it is today, due to lower sea levels that have since risen around . Thus, its inhabitants looked out on a coastal plain that was slowly submerged over the course of their occupation. During the Upper Paleolithic Franchthi Cave was seasonally occupied by a small group (or groups), probably in the range of 25–30 people, who mainly hunted wild ass and red deer, carrying a stone tool kit of flint bladelets and scrapers. Its use as a campsite increased considerably after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), with occasional hiatus in the sequence of occupation. Obsidian from the island of Melos appears at Franchthi as early as 13,000 BC, offering the earliest evidence of seafaring and navigational skills by anatomically modern humans in Greece.