Přírodovědné museum Egeidy na ostrově Samos

THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM.MYTILINII PALAEONTOLOGICAL MUSEUM. The Mytilinii Palaeontological Museum is today housed in a fine building erected in the Commune of Mytilinii at the expense of Constantinos Zimalis and his wife, Maria.The natural history Museum in Mytilinii. Gentle music soothes your ear as you examine the exhibits in their carefully laid out cases.It was the sensitivity to the values of culture of Mr and Mrs Zimalis - an shining example for our age - which gave Mytilinii a museum which many other countries of Europe might envy. Now the exhibits discovered by Melendis in his digs of 1963 at Tsarouchi, Andrianos, Potamies, etc. have found a fitting for their display.Andrianos took its name from the doctor Andrianos Stefanidis of Mytilinii, the owner of the land and Samos's first collector of fossilis. Dr. Stefanidis gave the considerable collection which he had amassed to the University of Athens. It should be noted that the more important items are in museums in Europe and America, including the New York Museum of Natural History.Digging was begun in 1887 by the great British palaeontologist Major, who found in various parts of the island a mass of bones, teeth, skulls, but not whole skeletons. As was thought natural in those days, he removed his finds from Samos, as did the German Schlosser ( 1904 ), Schlesinger ( 1917 ), Antrel ( 1926 ) and Braun, who in their turn dug in the same areas and found, all together, 50 different species of proboscidean mammals which, in the opinion of the experts, had come from Asia when the island was still united to the contitent - as was the rest of Greece - and thus spread into Europe.Geological changes separated Samos from Asia. The animals were thus trapped on the island and with the passage of time became extinct. The bones were found in the valleys and torrent beds of Mytilinii, and some experts believe that some overwhelming flood meant that the animals were drowned and buried in the mud. Bones were also found in volcanic tufa ( ash ) which was expelled during eruptions and covered the surrounding area. That the animals were found in a good state of preservation is no doubt due to the fact that they were covered with this ash. So much for history.Now let us go through the great double doors and enjoy the flood of light which enters through the large windows and plays on the white and soft grey of the interior of the imposing hall. We begin our tour with the first case, which contains the bones of a mastodon : its back, milk teeth, tibia, ankle - bone, metacarpal bone, and the vast shoulder blade of the gigantic elephant, which was common in the area and was more than three metres high. The whole of the beast was assembled in Vienna at the Museum of Natural History by the renowned palaeontologist Schle - singer.We go on to the next case. Here we can see the bones of a species, unique in the world, of short - necked giraffe ( ancestor of the giraffe of today ), of a height of two and a half metres and a length of three. It had large claws for self - defence and for climbing heights, while it had two small horns on its head. This animal was assembled in Lausanne. Another species, of another family, was found at Pikermi in Attica and at Vermio and has been named Helladotherium. There is also a canine tooth from one of the most terrible animals over to have lived on earth - the Machairodus ( sabre - tooth tiger ), an ancestor of the Asiatic lion and tiger with canine teeth as sharp as knives. The rest of it has been assembled in New York, as has the hyaena whose lower jaw, head, back and canine tooth we have here.Of importance is the species of gazelle which Schlesinger found and declared to be the finest in the world. He gave it the name of Gazella Mytilinii and gave it to the Vienna Museum. Here we have the vertebrae, horn, and teeth of a gazelle and the head of a baby gazelle.In the lower part of the case there are insects' nests in the rock and bones mixed up with rock, as they were found in the area. But the most striking items are the little horses found by Melendis. These were of a height of from 80 centimetres to a metre or 1.30 m. - never more than 1.40 m.. They had a large head, long narrow jaws, a small brain, and three toes on each foot. Experts say that this is a stage in the evolution of the animal whose first form was found in Asia. This was only 40 cms high and had five toes - something like a fox. It lived 50 million years ago.The finds of Samos date, experts tell us, from between 8 and 10 million years ago.We now come to the case with the enormous jaw - bones of the Oriental rhinocerus, which was black, had two horns, and was extremely formidable. Its vertebrae, atlas, bones from the leg, socket joint, thigh and tibia are very striking. On 20 October 1994, at the expense of the foundation, excavations were undertaken by Prof. Koufos of the University of Thessaloniki. A jaw - bone of a rhinocerus, fragments of the body and head of a gazelle, and a tibia from a Samotherium were found. Only the upper jaw - bone appears in the case, because the other items need to time to clean. Prof. Koufos assures us that there are many more such finds to be made in the area, but this requires money and time.Copies have also been brought of finds made on Chios, the originals being at the University of Thessaloniki, to whose Geology Department this foundation is subject. Professors from the University, such as Prof. Psilovikos, who arranged the mineralogy section, are frequent visitors, as are Mr Ar.Franc, of Greek - Czech origin, and Mr Ar. Vouyoukas, an amateur, who have enriched the museum with rare items from Samos, the Aegean, the rest of Greece, and other parts of the world.We pass on now to see the mineralogy collection, with its superb amethyst galena, its ragonite, perlite, volcanic rocks and stalagmites from the local caves. We have no doubt that you will be deeply impressed by all this - but remember that we are still only at the beginning.The next fine and spacious room is used for lectures and cultural events of various kinds. There are plans for it to house the botanical collection, and for the subsequent building of a larger room next to the refreshments.Více foto a infornmací na níže uvedených stránkách anebo u správce geologické sekce Enviweb, který část mineralogicko - petrografické expozice budoval.ZDROJ:http://hellas.teipir.gr/Thesis/Samos/english/tdk159.html