"Mammoth Park" launched at Viminacium

"Mammoth Park" launched at Viminacium

KOSTOLAC -- Serbian President Tomislav Nikolić opened on Monday the Mammoth Park, part of the Viminacium archaeological park near Kostolac, eastern Serbia.

The site provides an unusual and modern way for young people to learn about ancient history, the president remarked during his address.

He "invited the young to make the most of this remarkable classroom - playroom and be the participants and the creators in the process of knowledge acquisition, as modern pedagogy demands," Tanjug reported.

U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Michael Kirby also attended the event and welcomed the opening of the site, noting that Viminacium has become an exceptional location that will attract tourists.

He added that around USD 400,000 were allocated to Viminacium from the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation.

The archaeological site "celebrated the one millionth birthday of the female mammoth Vika and her younger 'relatives', the oldest residents of the European continent whose skeletons were preserved," according to Tanjug.

The news agency noted that "the mammoths discovered in Viminacium are displayed in the layer of sand where they were found," while visitors "are walking the same loess sediments as the mammoths did millenniums ago."

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