Franchthi Cave is located on the coastline of south Argolid, in the Gulf of Koilada, 12 metres above the present sea level. During the last Glaciation it was seven km inland, while at the beginning of the Holocene its distance from the coastline was barely a kilometre. The depth of the cave was approximately 150 metres.

The excavations in the cave interior show that it was used during the Upper Palaeolithic, the Mesolithic and the Neolithic Period (ca 30,000-5000 BP). Despite some intervals, 18,000-13,000 BP and 11,000-9500 BP, Franchthi is one of the few known sites (as well as Theopetra) which were inhabited during all phases of the Stone Age.

The excavations at Franchthi Cave were conducted from 1967 till 1976 by the Universities of Indiana and Pennsylvania and the American School in Classical Studies at Athens.