From Theatre of Civil Commitment to Economy of Relationship Cultural and Economic Recovery Plan of Fossil Forest of Dunarobba

Abstract

The Fossil Forest of Dunarobba came to light in the late 1970s, inside a clay quarry for the manufacture of bricks for construction. The remains of the approximately fifty trunks of gigantic conifers currently visible constitute an exceptional and rare testimony of some plant essences that characterized this sector of the Italian peninsula over a period of time between 3 and 2 million years ago, that is, in the known geological period like Pliocene.
Still largely buried by sediment, this ancient forest indicates environmental conditions substantially different from the current ones, also characterized by a significantly warmer climate. The conservation of the logs in a living position and the almost total maintenance of the characteristics of the original wood, can reasonably be attributed to a continuous and gradual burial that took place within a marshy area located on the banks of a large lake. In addition, the area was subjected to a gradual sinking, that is, to a geological phenomenon known as subsidence. The particular characteristics of this paleontological site make it a unique naturalistic monument of great scientific importance.