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Archaeologists have shown that this cave has the longest known human occupation in the world. Their excavations  have shown, using carbon dating that this cave was occupied by humans from 20, 000 BCE up until 3,000 BCE. That is not a typo, it is 22 thousand years ago.

It is a fascinating cave with an entrance to the north, and then two collapsed windows toward the south, which let plenty of light into the cave. The thick rock ceiling shows huge cracks, some of which are quite scary to look down, as they seem to go on and on.

At the bottom of the cave is a lake which has a water level 1 meter below sea level. The water is apparently brackish, though it looks crystal clear. Some divers explored the lake many years ago with hookah equipment and their line extended 50 meters into the cavern and they submerged to a depth 45 ft.

It is worth scrambling over the huge fallen rocks from the ceiling and over the top to the first window, and then back down into the second chamber to the second window.

We dinghied over to the little dock in front of the cave and climbed all the way through to the last chimney.

The cave is lit up with spotlights at night.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franchthi_Cave
Howard and Jayne [ Just Imagine ] 16-Sep-2010

First window (Point of Interest)



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