Franchthi Cave
Franchthi Cave or ) is an archaeological site overlooking Kiladha Bay in the Argolic Gulf, opposite the village of Kiladha in southeastern Argolis, Greece. The Franchthi Cave has a rich history of early human occupation, beginning in the Upper Paleolithic, and continuing throughout the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. Last occupied around 3,000 BC, Franchthi was used as a shelter for around 35,000 years and is one of the most comprehensively studied stone age sites in Southeast Europe.
In 1967, T. W. Jacobsen, a professor of classical archaeology and classical studies at Indiana University, began the first excavations at Franchthi Cave. Initially, the dig was only intended as a side project, but it quickly became apparent that the cave was an extremely significant site, and deserved his undivided attention. The study employed many different excavation techniques such as stratigraphic digging, grid-based spatial control, and sieving in order to extract samples. These samples were then subjected to radiocarbon dating and geologic analysis in order to determine their age and other relevant information. The excavation, overseen by Jacobsen, would continue for nearly a decade, ending in 1976. In 2025, a study was conducted to study the dietary practices of Lower Mesolithic and Middle Neolithic human occupants of the cave. Researchers analyzed isotopic data of amino acids from human and animal remains to differentiate between many different dietary sources. The findings revealed that despite the cave’s coastal location, these prehistoric populations primarily consumed terrestrial animals, and that the harvesting of aquatic resources was minimal or potentially seasonal.
These findings also suggest that the landscape around the cave has significantly changed since the Neolithic period. In modern times, rising sea levels have brought the shoreline to the brink of the cave, but during its prehistoric occupation, it was several kilometers away, significantly affecting the availability of marine resources. Additionally, the area that has since been submerged under Kiladha Bay was once a fertile plain with plentiful terrestrial hunting grounds and agricultural land ripe for human use, proving the harvesting of marine foods unnecessary.
During much of its occupation, the Franchthi Cave was significantly further from the coastline than it is today. This is because sea levels have risen significantly since the time period of inhabitance, around 120 metres (400 ft) . These ancient inhabitants looked out on a large 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 (with no evidence of gathering wild plants), carrying a stone tool kit of flint bladelets and scrapers. Its use as a campsite increased considerably after the Last Glacial Maximum (around 20,000 years ago), with occasional abandonment during the sequence of occupation. There is evidence that suggests ancient mariners - such as Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis – may have even reached Crete at least 130,000 years ago. 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. A sudden shift in hunting occurred for these residents during the Upper Paleolithic, as they transitioned to a distinctly marine and terrestrial diet during this time. Sea level had begun to rise significantly, and fishing activities continued to become a more prevalent part of their diet into the Mesolithic.
Cave data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).