GREECE THESSALY TRIKALA THEOPETRA

the Cave

The excavations in Theopetra started in 1987 and continued up until early 2008. After that, the cave was also not accessible due to extensive consolidation works and then in 2025, it was finally opened for visitors. This prehistoric site is one of the most important in Greece due to its wealth in the 6m-deep archaeological deposits covering a great time span from the Middle Palaeolithic (beginning at 130.000 years before present) to the Final Neolithic - Chalcolithic periods (about 4.000 years BC). It records two greatly significant cultural transitions: The replacement of Neanderthals by modern humans, and the later transition from hunter-gathering to farming after the end of the last Ice Age.

The stratigraphy of the cave begins with man-made deposits at several phases of the Middle Palaeolithic (about 130.000 - 30.000 years ago), continues with deposits from the Upper Palaeolithic and the Mesolithic periods (about 30.000 - 10.000 years ago), and ends up with the deposits from the Neolithic periods (about 6.700 - 4.000 years BC).