Dig finds oldest human site on Aegean Sea

ATHENS, Greece, June 27 (UPI) -- An archaeological dig on Limnos Island has yielded evidence of the oldest human settlement ever found on the Aegean Sea, Greek researchers say.

A project headed by Thessaloniki Aristotle University Professor Nikos Efstratiou unearthed stone tools of a high quality from the Epipaleolithic Period about 14,000 years ago, Athens News Agency reported Saturday.

The news service said the 12th millennium B.C. find revealed a settlement of hunters, food-collectors and fishermen on the Louri coast of Fyssini in the municipality of Moudros on Limnos.

The discovery displaces the so-called Cyclops Cave on the rocky islet Yioura, north of the island of Alonissos, as well as the Maroula site on Kythnos island, as the oldest-known human settlements in Greece. Those sites date from the 8th millennium B.C., Athens News Agency said.

Scientists say Limnos has been the site of other significant archaeological finds, such as the Poliochne settlement that existed from the 5th millennium B.C. to the end of the 2nd millennium B.C.