Villaggio del Pescatore Lagerstätte

The Villaggio del Pescatore quarry near Trieste stands as the most informative locality within the palaeo-Mediterranean region and represents the first, multi-individual Konservat-Lagerstätte type dinosaur-bearing locality in Italy.

Chiarenza et al., 2021 Scientific Reports 11:23295

This project aims at addressing geological, paleontological and paleobiogeographic unsolved aspects related to the most important Campanian fossil locality of Europe: the Villaggio del Pescatore site (Duino-Aurisina, Trieste, Italy). Although this locality has achieved notoriety for the exquisite preservation of its dinosaur-dominated fossil assemblage, the site and adjacent exposures play a core role in our understanding of the Adriatic, Late  Cretaceous carbonate platforms as well as in determining environmental and biogeographic patterns in the European archipelago. The site is located on private land, it is currently under the legal protection of the Soprintendenza Archeologia, belle arti e paesaggio del Friuli Venezia Giulia, and officially included into the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) Italian geosite inventory. 

To properly address all crucial and unsolved scientific aspects of the area and to set the ground for compelling activities connecting science with the socio-economic fabric, this project has four connected objectives:

  1.  to provide the first geological, numerical and analogic modeling of the structural and sedimentary processes of the site, which represent a depositional ‘unicum’ in the current literature;
  2.  to assess the complex taphonomic history of preserved biota and discuss its paleoecology and paleobiogeography following the recent reevaluation of the site's age, also by applying new cutting-edge methodologies including nano-ct scannig of fossil elements;
  3.  to consolidate paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental data focusing on regional tectonostratigraphic setting and genetic story of vertebrate-rich paleoexposures;
  4.  to flank ongoing activities intended to promote education, exhibits and national-international projects for the safeguard and enhancement of the site.

 

This project is grounded in a long-lasting collaboration between scientific partners and with all necessary authorizations from the Ministry. Active research activities involve the University of Bologna (Dept. BiGeA), University of Trieste (Dept. of Mathematics and Earth Sciences), the Civic Museum of Natural History, ISPRA, Elettra Sincrotrone, and ZOIC s.r.l.