Franchthi Cave

cave, Greece

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June 26, 2026

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Franchthi Cave, located on the Bay of Argos in Greece, is a significant archaeological site that offers insights into early human habitation in the Aegean region. Excavations revealed that by 13,000–11,000 BCE, people were sailing to the island of Melos for obsidian, a volcanic glass crucial for toolmaking.1

The cave also shows evidence of early agriculture, including the cultivation of grains and the domestication of animals, as well as organized community tuna hunts. These findings place Franchthi Cave among the earliest sites in the Aegean to demonstrate these developments, predating the widespread adoption of agriculture in the region.12

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Aegean civilizations
Paleolithic (Old Stone Age)
Jacobsen at the Franchthi Cave on the Bay of Argos showed that boats already sailed to the island of Melos north of Crete for obsidian, a volcanic glass invaluable for early tools, by about 13,000–11,000 bc and that the cultivation of hybrid grains, the domestication of animals, and…
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Jacobsen at the Franchthi Cave on the Bay of Argos showed that boats already sailed to the island of Melos north of Crete for obsidian, a volcanic glass invaluable for early tools, by about 13,000–11,000 bc and that the cultivation of hybrid grains, the domestication of animals, and…
Read More