In the last decades of the '900, near Dunarobba,
just in the middle of a clay quarry, were brought to the light the first trunks
of what today is note as the Forest Fossil. Since then were put a series
of measures directed to always guarantee one greater guardianship towards this
site, for many reasons unique in the world. These are great stems of tree going
back to the middle and superior pliocene, ancient of around 3 and 2 million
years, when the area between the Amerini Mountains and the Martani
Mountains was occupied from the lake Tiberino, a lake and
marshy formation to which this name has been given. To the borders of the marsh
they had to be the trees of which today we have testimony, a luxuriant forest
of conifers composed by tall stems among the 20 and the 30 meters, whose
species has been studied, without reaching however a decisive conclusion.
One of the peculiar features (and still
partly mysterious) of the Forest Fossil is the degree and the quality of
maintenance of the trunks, which don't appear petrified. The fossilization
would have happened through a sort of mummification, due to the dehydration of
the wood.
The whole palaeontology patrimony
constituted by the Forest Fossil of Dunarobba is today an asset centre
of studies, thanks to the realization of the Palaeontology Fossil Centre,
which beginning from 1999-2000 endowed with classrooms study and equipped
didactic and scientific runs to allow visitors and students to deepen the
treated themes.
Trip clipboard
Text and images contained on this page and related linked pages are protected by copyright laws, unauthorized copying is strictly prohibited.
Perugia 
