Pikermi () is a suburb of Athens and a former community of East Attica regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Rafina-Pikermi, of which it is a municipal unit.
Geography
Pikermi is situated at the northern edge of the
Mesogaia plain, south of the Penteliko Mountain. It is 5 km east of
Pallini, 6 km west of
Rafina and 19 km east of
Athens city centre. Greek National Road 54 (Athens - Rafina) passes through Pikermi. The municipal unit Pikermi consists of the settlements Pikermi,
Drafi and Dioni.
Paleontology
Pikermi features a paleontological site which has more than forty mammal species from the late
Miocene (8 million years ago). What is special about Pikermi is that it is one of the first Miocene fossil localities to be discovered. It was discovered in 1839 by Bavarian soldiers of king Otto. Since it was one of the first localities, many of the
species named there are
type species. The locality itself is used as the archetypal example of a 'Pikermian' chronofauna that existed from Afghanistan to the Balkans during the
Late Miocene.
Similar
fossils are found on
Samos Island in Greece and
Shanxi China.
Historical population
External links
