Young Paleontologists

“Young Paleontologist” is one of the most popular educational programme of the Natural History Museum of the Lesvos Petrified Forest. Children from the local communities have the unique opportunity to become young paleontologists for a day and take part in the excavation of plant fossils using the special excavation tools, as well as in the research work of identifying the fossils they excavated and comparing them with present-day plants of Lesvos. The programme includes an introduction to terms like plant and animal fossils, paleontology, geology, climate changes, fossilization and a narration of the creation of the Lesvos Petrified Forest through audiovisual materials. The children also participate in a treasure hunt at the museum’s permanent exhibition halls in order to discover all the plant fossils of the Petrified Forest and gather information about the landscape of the rich subtropical forest that covered the area 20 million years ago. At the end, they learn everything about the methods, steps and purposes of the scientific paleontological excavation research and experience themselves the excavation process at the museum’s educational excavation site. For the implementation of the programme, the special educational discovery site GEORAMA has been created, which includes an excavation site, divided into grids, thus simulating the educational excavation activity with the scientific paleontological excavation research.