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Summer 2011


From July 11 till July 20, 2011, I have paid another visit to northern Greece. The goal of my visit was to join Wilrie van Logchem and Dick Mol. They are running a project in close co-operation with Professor Dr Evangelia Tsoukala, Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, in developing an exhibition on trunk-bearing animals (so-called Proboscideans like mammoths, mastodons and elephants) in the beautiful town of Siatista. I was, once more, invited by the team as the photographer to produce pictures for the exhibition as well as of the work of the team.

Below is a selection of photographs taking during the 9-days trip. Some atmospheric pictures of the trip to Thessaloniki in northern Greece. I was travelling together with Wilrie van Logchem, using Austrian Airlines. In Thessaloniki we joined the team of Evangelia Tsoukala and Dick Mol. On the first day of this trip we had to travel about three hours from Thessaloniki, via Kilkis (where Evangelia Tsoukala and Vassilis Maikridis are planning an exhibition on the Kilkis Cave which has produced a lot of fossils dated into the Late Pleistocene (towards the end of the Ice Age) of, amongst others, remains of the wild ass, Equus hydruntinus, to our base in Agios Georgios (Saint George). Of course, during the trip I took many pictures of the beautiful landscape and its impressive mountains, nature and interesting people.

We were facing a busy program: 1) paying visits to local authorities, like the mayor of Grevena, 2) visiting a classical concert on invitation of the mayor of Grevena and the Austrian Ambassador visiting northern Greece, 3) to continue our work in the Natural History Museum of Milia containing the Guinness World Record of the longest tusks ever discovered in the world, 4) visiting some localities looking for fossil remains, 5) organising a kind of press conference for the gift of a cast for comparative studies of mastodons (Mammut borsoni) in the Milia Museum, 6) joining MSc Vangelis Vlachos and Professor Evangelia Tsoukala for their presentations in Ioannina, 7) to install an exhibition on palaeontology is the little village of Vitsa, located high in the mountains north of Ioannina and, last but not least, 8) the production of the exhibition on The Historical Paleontological Collection of Siatista (abbreviated as HPCS).

It seems to me that the team was extremely successful in approaching their goal under extreme conditions, like the busy program and high summer temperatures. It looks like that the exhibition in Siatista will open its doors on August 18, 2011. I can state that the exhibition is very attractive, it tells the story about giants, like mammoths, mastodons and elephants, which once roamed the area of Siatista, from 3.000.000 to about 100.000 years ago. Not only the fossils which have been collected in the last century in the area of Siatista, but with high quality and well illustrated panels telling their story. If ever you are visiting northern Greece and you are in the area of Grevena or Kozani, visit Siatista, a wonderful, clean and old town with beautiful houses and churches, but also the permanent exhibition on the HPCS. It is worthwhile!