Milea, Grevena
History
Milea was populated by Greek speaking Muslim Vallahades. The 1920 Greek census recorded 190 people in the village, and 15 inhabitants (4 families) were Muslim in 1923. Following the Greek–Turkish population exchange, Greek refugee families in Milea were from Pontus (11) in 1926. The 1928 Greek census recorded 242 village inhabitants. In 1928, the refugee families numbered 11 (36 people).
The village's original position has changed in the early '70s, when it was completely abandoned due to soil instability. The aforementioned village is now called Palia Milea (Greek: Παλιά Μηλέα, which means Old Milea) and it maintains its original architecture where stone is the prevailing material.
Natural History Museum
In 1997 an inhabitant called Athanasios Delivos discovered the first pair of tusks by chance, after a heavy rainfall. Their length is 4,39m. Dr. Evaggelia Tsoukala with her colleagues from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki was responsible for the excavations. During the excavations which also continued in the sequential years, a partial skeleton of the mastodont "Mammut" borsoni (Hays, 1834) (Proboscidea) was discovered. The skeleton includes substantial portions of the skull — maxillary area — with left and right molar series, with the longest upper tusks ever found in Greece (4.39 m), the most complete mandible with left and right molar series (M2 + M3) and two lower incisor tusks, as well as post-cranial skeleton. It represents a very large adult of about 40 years in age.
In 2007, Dr. Tsoukala and her team discovered new, longer tusks along with other findings. Their length is 5,02m and they have been awarded the World's Guinness Records Award. The mastodont's age is evaluated at 3.000.000 years. Various other parts of mastodonts and other pre-historic animals were found there. All those findings can be seen at the Natural History Museum of Milia. It already counts more than 15.000 visitors from all over the world.
References
- ^ "Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού - Κατοικιών 2021, Μόνιμος Πληθυσμός κατά οικισμό" [Results of the 2021 Population - Housing Census, Permanent population by settlement] (in Greek). Hellenic Statistical Authority. 29 March 2024.
- ^ "ΦΕΚ B 1292/2010, Kallikratis reform municipalities" (in Greek). Government Gazette.
- ^ "Population & housing census 2001 (incl. area and average elevation)" (PDF) (in Greek). National Statistical Service of Greece. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-09-21.
- ^ Vakalopoulos, Apostolos E. (1973). History of Macedonia, 1354–1833. Institute for Balkan Studies. p. 348. ISBN 9780900834899.
- ^ Metoki, Athanasia (2016). Οι ελληνόφωνοι μουσουλμάνοι της Δυτικής Μακεδονίας: η περίπτωση των Βαλαάδων της Κοζάνης και των Γρεβενών [The Greek-speaking Muslims of Western Macedonia: The case of the Vallahades of Kozani and Grevena] (Masters) (in Greek). University of Macedonia. pp. 3, 14. Retrieved 1 September 2024.
- ^ Pelagidis, Efstathios (1992). Η αποκατάσταση των προσφύγων στη Δυτική Μακεδονία (1923–1930) [The rehabilitation of refugees in Western Macedonia: 1923–1930] (Ph.D.) (in Greek). Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. p. 84. Retrieved 26 August 2024.
- ^ Tsoukala, Evangelia (2000). "Remains of a Pliocene Mammut borsoni (Hays, 1834) (Proboscidea, Mammalia), from Milia (Grevena, W. Macedonia, Greece)". Annales de Paléontologie. 86 (3): 165–191. doi:10.1016/S0753-3969(00)80007-5.