Actuopalaeontology: a polyfunctional tool for archaeology

Actuopalaeontology is the logical synthesis between palaeontology and biology. The goals of actuopalaeontology are: i) to emphasize the role of the palaeontological disciplines within the archaeological research; ii) to realize a palaeontological guide for both, archaeologists and researchers from other disciplines, in other words, non-specialists; iii) to reconstruct natural and/or anthropic scenarios: palaeoenvironments and palaeoclimates. In particular, this work plans to discuss actuopalaeontology’s role in geoarchaeological research, following the points of view of both archaeologist and actuopalaeontologist. The archaeologist has to obtain by him-self preliminary taxonomic and environmental observations to subsequently involve the right specialist. He should be able to recognize the organic remains found in archaeological excavations and boreholes through a first simple identification and, subsequently, obtain a preliminary palaeoenvironmental interpretation, using a table reporting the life-environment of the most common organisms. The actuopalaeontologist has to better define the preliminary interpretations of the non-specialist evidencing the precise taxonomic aspects and the right palaeocological and palaeoclimatic results. The actuopalaeontologist has to interact with other disciplines; moreover, he should be able to perform specific analyses like microtomography, SEM and isotopic geochemistry to refine the palaeoenvironmental and the palaeoclimatic interpretations.