MILIA - 2007

Milia, Grevena. A team from the Aristotelian University, Thessaloniki, under E. Tsoukala, reports the discovery of a pair of fossilized mastodon (Mammut borsoni) teeth near a sand quarry in this village. At 5.02m l., they are the largest yet found and must have belonged to an animal weighing more than 12 tons and ca. 4m h. The discovery was followed by a one-day colloquium discussing the material on 27/01/2008. The team also discovered parts of a fossilized horse skeleton in the same area. This is the 3-toed variety ancestral to the mod. horse, but of smaller stature. It dates to ca. 2.5−3 million years BC. Other species discovered in the course of 17 years of excavation in the area include the rhinoceros, tapir, macherodon, bear, deer, gazelle and wild boar.