For map of all palaeontological (macromammals) excavations done by NL on Greek territory, see figure 1971/2002 Map excavations.

1 = Katharo, Crete; 2 = Gerani Cave, Crete; 3 = Liko Cave, Crete; 4 = Pikermi; 5 = Bali, Crete; 6 = Milatos, Crete; 7 = Kharumbes, Crete; 8 = Siteia, Crete; 9 = Tourkovounia Hill, Attiko Alsos, Athens; 10 = Aliveri; 11 = Kerasia, Evia Island; 12 = Maramena (Macedonia); 13 = Ptolemais (Macedonia); 14 = Apolakia, Rhodes Island; 15 = Vatera, Polichnitos, Lesvos Island 1966. Fossils collected of Pleistocene Hippopotamus creutzburgi and of turtle at Katharo basin, Kritsa village, Crete. Excavators: Dr G.J. Boekschoten (GIUU), Dr P.Y. Sondaar (GIUU). This species of hippopotamus is characterized by dwarfism and a more terrestrial way of walking. Dwarfed animals are characteristic for islands, and are found on the Mediterranean Islands of the Pleistocene (1,8 Ma - 10.000 years ago). One of the species that reduced significantly in size is the Hippopotamus of Crete. Its feet are adapted to the rocky soil of Crete. The excavation resulted in an article by the excavators Boekschoten, G.J. & P.Y. Sondaar (1966): The Pleistocene of the Katharo Basin (Crete) and its Hippopotamus. Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde 36, 8: 17-44.1969-1970-1971. Excavation and collection of Pliocene mammals near Apolakkia, Rhodos Island. Excavators: Dr A. Van de Weerd (Union Oil Company, Alberta, Canada), Dr P.Y. Sondaar (GIUU) and students. The collection consists of solitary finds of large mammals from different stratigraphic levels and different places. The horse Hipparion aff. crassum and the deer Cervus aff. philisi are dominant among the large mammals. The fossils have a Pliocene age, and were described by Van de Weerd, A., J.W.F. Reumer & J. De Vos (1982): Pliocene mammals from the Apolakkia Formations (Rhodes, Greece). Proceedings of the Koninkijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Series B 85(1): 89-112.

1966. Fossils collected of Pleistocene Hippopotamus creutzburgi and of turtle at Katharo basin, Kritsa village, Crete. Excavators: Dr G.J. Boekschoten (GIUU), Dr P.Y. Sondaar (GIUU). This species of hippopotamus is characterized by dwarfism and a more terrestrial way of walking. Dwarfed animals are characteristic for islands, and are found on the Mediterranean Islands of the Pleistocene (1,8 Ma - 10.000 years ago). One of the species that reduced significantly in size is the Hippopotamus of Crete. Its feet are adapted to the rocky soil of Crete. The excavation resulted in an article by the excavators Boekschoten, G.J. & P.Y. Sondaar (1966): The Pleistocene of the Katharo Basin (Crete) and its Hippopotamus. Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde 36, 8: 17-44.

1969-1970-1971. Excavation and collection of Pliocene mammals near Apolakkia, Rhodos Island. Excavators: Dr A. Van de Weerd (Union Oil Company, Alberta, Canada), Dr P.Y. Sondaar (GIUU) and students. The collection consists of solitary finds of large mammals from different stratigraphic levels and different places. The horse Hipparion aff. crassum and the deer Cervus aff. philisi are dominant among the large mammals. The fossils have a Pliocene age, and were described by Van de Weerd, A., J.W.F. Reumer & J. De Vos (1982): Pliocene mammals from the Apolakkia Formations (Rhodes, Greece). Proceedings of the Koninkijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, Series B 85(1): 89-112.

1971. Excavation and collection at Gerani 4 Cave, Rethymnon, Crete, of Pleistocene deer Candiacervus ropalophorus. Excavators: Dr P.Y. Sondaar, J. De Vos (PhD student), and students, all from GIUU. Here a complete herd of the Pleistocene deer Candiacervus ropalophorus was found. It is very exceptional to find such a herd; normally only some individuals are found, or even worse, only some isolated bones. It appeared that many individuals of this herd suffered from osteoporosis, a bone disease caused by a lack of minerals, vitamine D or genetic disorders. In this case, a lack of minerals due to an inadequate diet, is the most likely cause.

1972. Collection of Pleistocene Testudo at Zourida Cave, Rethymnon, Crete. Excavators: Dr P.Y. Sondaar, H. Brinkerink, J. De Vos (PhD student), and students, all from GIUU. This material, and other turtle and tortoise material from other Cretan localities is described by Brinkerink, H.P. (1996): Tortoises and Turtles from the Pleistocene of Crete. In: Reese, D.S. (ed.). Pleistocene and Holocene Fauna of Crete and Its First Settlers. Monographs in World Archaeology, Prehistory Press, 28: 207-210.

1973-1975. Annually excavation and collection at Liko cave, Rethymnon, Crete. Excavators: Dr P.Y. Sondaar (GIUU), J. De Vos (PhD student), students (GIUU). The material collected in this period comes from the upper 75 cm of the cave sediments. Almost 100% of the large mammal bones belong to the Cretan deer Candiacervus. Many remains of micromammals were also recovered. On Mediterranean Islands of the Pleistocene, dwarfed deer are found. This dwarfism occurs always together with the lack of mammalian carnivores. Another characteristic of this dwarfed deer is that the species contains more than one morphotype, living at the same time. This radiation in size is considered an adaptive radiation. Each morphotype occupied a different ecological niche. The excavations at Liko Cave resulted in the PhD thesis of J. De Vos (GIUU, now NNM), published as De Vos, J. (1979): The endemic Pleistocene deer of Crete, I and II. KNAW, Proceedings B 82, 1: 59-90. Also an almost complete skeleton of a new otter (Isolalutra cretensis, later moved to the genus Lutrogale by Willemsen) was discovered in bed a in the rear part of the cave (called Liko Ba). The skull and the lower jaw were described by Symeonis, N. & P.Y. Sondaar (1975): A new otter from the Pleistocene of Crete. Annales Geologiques des pays Helleniques 1e serie 27:11-24. The postcranial skeleton was described by Willemsen, G.F. (1980): Comparative study of the functional morphology of some Lutrinae, especially Lutra lutra, Lutrogale perspicillata, and the Pleistocene Isolalutra cretensis. KNAW Proceedings B 86, 3: 289-326.

1975-1976. Collection of small mammal fossils from Akrotiri Melekas 3 (= Cape Melekka), Akrotiri Peninsula, Mpali Cave II (= Bali 2), Mylopotamos, Milatos Cave II, Milatos, Karoumpes A Cave, Siteia, and Xeros, Xerokampos; all sites on Crete. These collections supplemented some material collected earlier by workers from GIUU. Excavators: Dr D. Mayhew (visiting Post-Doc, GIUU), PhD students and undergraduate students of GIUU . The micromammals form the basis for stratigraphic correlations concerning the ages of the localities and levels, in which, for example, deer and elephant remains have been found. The study of the Cretan micromammals resulted in the publication by D. Mayhew (1977): The endemic pleistocene murids of Crete, I and II. Proceedings of the KNAW B 80, 3: 182-214.

1976. Excavation at the classical site Pikermi (Attica), to the south-east of Athens. Excavators: Dr C. Doukas (HGPUA), Dr D. Bosscha Erdbrink (GIUU).

1976-1979. Annually excavation and collection at Liko cave, Likotinara, Crete, of Pleistocene deer. Excavators: Dr P.Y. Sondaar (GIUU) and students. The material collected in this period comes from the next 75 cm of the cave sediments. More specimens were collected of the Cretan deer Candiacervus, and confirmed the earlier idea of the presence of an adaptive radiation with eight morphotypes. Also bird remains were collected, among which a new owl species, typical for Crete, described in Weesie, P.D.M. (1982): A Pleistocene endemic island form within the genus Athene: Athene cretensis n.sp. (Aves, Strigiformes) from Crete. KNAW Proceedings B 85, 3: 323-336. The description of all bird remains resulted in the PhD thesis of P. Weesie, later published as Weesie, P.D.M. (1988): Quaternary Avifauna of Crete, Greece. Palaeovertebrata 18, 1: 1-94.

1977. Excavation and collection of Pleistocene deer fossils on Karpathos Island. Excavators: Dr P.Y. Sondaar, Dr G.J. Boekschoten and H. Brinkerink, all from GIUU. The deer from Karpathos belongs to the same genus as the Cretan deer: Candiacervus, and shows also the typical endemic characters of dwarfism, adaptive radiation and relative short limbs. Two species have been described, C. cerigensis and C. pigadiensis.

1979-1980. Excavation and collection of small and large mammals at Toukovounia Hill, Athens. Excavators: Dr C. Doukas (HGPUA), Dr H. De Bruijn (GIUU).

1979-1981. Excavation and collection of small and large mammals at Aliveri. Excavators: Dr H. De Bruijn (GIUU), Dr C. Doukas (HGPUA), Dr A. Van der Meulen (GIUU).

1982. Excavation of Katharo basin, Kritsa village, Crete. Excavators: Dr J. De Vos (NNM), R. Van Zelst (NNM), and Dr G. Theodorou (HGPUA). On the plateau of Katharo mainly Hippopotamus creutzburghi is found, which has the typical characteristics of an island hippopotamus: dwarfed and with a more upright stance of its feet. The study of the locomotion of this hippo resulted in an article by Spaan, A. (1996). Hippopotamus creutzburgi: The Case of the Cretan Hippopotamus. In: Reese, D.S. (ed.). Pleistocene and Holocene Fauna of Crete and Its First Settlers. Monographs in World Archaeology, Prehistory Press, 28: 99-110.

1982. Excavation at Kerasia (Evia Island). Excavators: Dr H. De Bruijn (GIUU), Dr C. Doukas (HGPUA), Dr A. Van der Meulen (GIUU).

1986, summer. Exploration at Maramena (Macedonia). Excavators: Dr H. De Bruijn (GIUU) and Dr N. Schmidt-Kittler (Institut fur Geowissenschaften, Universitat Mainz). The locality Maramena is an artificial pit of the size of a quarry dug during uranium exploration activities in the seventies. Dr H. De Bruijn (GIUU) collected here for many years micromammal teeth. Because bone fragments and teeth of macromammals occured quite regularly, a small test excavation for large mammals was undertaken, with an encouraging result.1991- today. Annual excavation and collection of small and large mammals at Ptolemais and Florina (Macedonia). Excavators: Dr H. De Bruijn (GIUU), Dr C. Doukas (HGPUA).

1987-1988. Excavation at the classical site Maramena (Macedonia). Excavators: Dr H. De Bruijn (GIUU), Dr C. Doukas (HGPUA), Mr L. Hoek-Ostende (MSc, GIUU), Mrs E. Boon (MSc, GIUU), Mrs J. De Visser (MSc, GIUU), Dr N. Schmidt-Kittler (Institut fur Geowissenschaften, Universitat Mainz), Dr G. Daxner-Hock (Austria) and students (GIUU, HGPUA, Mainz, Austria). It appeared that Maramena occupies an intermediate position between the Turolien (MN 13) and Ruscinian (MN 14). A special edition of the Munchen journal was devoted to this site: Schmidt-Kittler, N. (ed.): The Vertebrate Locality Maramena (Macedonia, Greece) at the Turolian-Ruscinian Boundary (Neogene). Munchner Geowissenschaftliche Abhandlungen 28: 1-180, 34 pl., 93 fig., 49tab. Munchen, September 1995.

1991-today. Annual excavation and collection of small and large mammals at Ptomlemais and Florina (Macedonia). Excavators: Dr H. De Bruijn (GIUU), Dr C. Doukas (HGPUA).

Figure 1971/2002 Map excavations.

2001, September. Excavation and preparation of the Hippopotamus site on Katharo basin, Kritsa, Crete. Excavators: G. Lyras (PhD student, HGPUA), J.A. De Visser (PhD student, ZMA), Dr A.A.E. Van der Geer (HUL), D. Tsourou (PhD student, HGPUA), Dr M. Mertzani (TEIA), Dr M.D. Dermitzakis. At this site a complete herd of the Cretan dwarf Hippopotamus creutzburgi was found, and prepared in order to make a site museum. The goal of this preparation is to show visitors a paleontological excavation, and the taphonomy of this Hippopotamus site. The idea is to prepare the fossils against weathering influences (winter frost, summer heat, weathering wind and water), and to build a roof above them, similar to the one at Malia (Crete, Minoan site).

1999. Systematic excavation of the Vatera site continued, and preparation of the site for conference visitors (1st International Workshop. "On Late Plio/Pleistocene extinction and evolution in the Palearctic. The Vatera Site." September 29 - October 2, 1999, Polichnitos, Lesvos Island). Excavators: Dr P.Y. Sondaar (NMR), Dr J. De Vos (NNM), H. Brinkerink (VN), G. Lyras (PhD student, HGPUA), Dr A.A.E. Van der Geer (HUL), Dr M.D. Dermitzakis (HGPUA).