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The coastal villages of Aghia Marina, Korakas and Spitha on the Malea Peninsula in southern Laconia, are best known for the awesome petrified stumps of a Palaeolithic forest, testament of a very distant past. Visiting the petrified forest is an absolute must as there are not many of its kind around the world.
The petrified forest of Cavo Malia is a miracle of nature, a monument of legendary proportions. It is unique because it represents the first time that so many trunks were discovered together in one location, and also because the 2-3 million-year-old stumps were not petrified by volcanic ash, as is more normally the case, but were calcified by the rising sea. Most of the trees were palms, though there are also a number of coniferous and leafy species as well. The surviving stumps are from half to a full metre thick and up to two metres high.
Some of the trunks are in the water and riddled with holes through which the waves rush, spewing out the top as though from a geyser. Throughout the coast and deeper into the fields you will see oaks and pistachio trees growing in ground that is rich with shells, starfish, crabs and plenty of fossils. A team from the University of Athens led by Professor Evangelos Velitselos that studies the petrified forest has preserved 33 petrified stumps in Aghia Marina and Korakas by waterproofing them so that they do not suffer any further water damage. If you’ve brought a mask and snorkel along, you must dive in and explore the parts of the forest that are submerged.
Video by: Kostas Gertzos
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