18/11/2025
Imagine standing by a warm lakeshore. 🌅🍂🍁Elephants bathe in the water while snapping turtles rest in the sun. Cicadas fill the air with sound and tulip trees create cooling shade. This is the world brought to life in the special exhibition Three Million Years Before Our Time at the Geosciences Museum of the University of Göttingen.
The exhibition introduces the remarkable biodiversity of the Pliocene, a time before the recurring ice ages of the Pleistocene. Species that once lived in today’s Lower Saxony later disappeared due to colder climates. Termites processed dead wood, praying mantises waited for prey along the lake margins, and giant salamanders moved slowly through dense water plants.
Researchers from the University of Göttingen, working with national and international partners, have studied the Willershausen fossil site for more than a century. Located only 30 kilometers from Göttingen, it offers unique insights into the flora and fauna of three million years ago. Many of the exceptionally well-preserved fossils are now on public display for the first time.
Visit us at the Geosciences Museum, Wilhelm-Weber-Straße 2
Monday to Friday 9:00 to 17:00
Sunday 11:00 to 16:00
Admission is free.
The exhibition runs until 23 December 2026.
