{"title":"The history of palaeontological research and excavations at Monte San Giorgio","authors":"Heinz Furrer","doi":"10.1186/s13358-024-00314-9","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"There is a long history of palaeontological excavations at Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland) and the adjoining Monte Pravello—Monte Orsa (Italy), aimed at finding well-preserved skeletons of Middle Triassic vertebrates. The first fossils were discovered in the mid-Nineteenth Century during mining of black shales (scisti bituminosi) near Besano, Italy, with further finds in the early Twentieth Century through industrial-scale mining. Studies of the material generated international interest and prompted formal palaeontological excavations on both sides of the border. The earliest excavations took place in 1863 and 1878, with the most extensive between 1924 and 1968. Systematic excavations have continued up to the present day, focusing on six distinct fossiliferous horizons: the Besano Formation and the overlying Meride Limestone with the Cava inferiore, Cava superiore, Cassina, Sceltrich and Kalkschieferzone beds. All these have provided material for study and display, with Monte San Giorgio itself recently designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The workers and organisations involved, locations excavated and material recovered are described herein.","PeriodicalId":56059,"journal":{"name":"Swiss Journal of Palaeontology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Swiss Journal of Palaeontology","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1186/s13358-024-00314-9","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PALEONTOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
There is a long history of palaeontological excavations at Monte San Giorgio (Switzerland) and the adjoining Monte Pravello—Monte Orsa (Italy), aimed at finding well-preserved skeletons of Middle Triassic vertebrates. The first fossils were discovered in the mid-Nineteenth Century during mining of black shales (scisti bituminosi) near Besano, Italy, with further finds in the early Twentieth Century through industrial-scale mining. Studies of the material generated international interest and prompted formal palaeontological excavations on both sides of the border. The earliest excavations took place in 1863 and 1878, with the most extensive between 1924 and 1968. Systematic excavations have continued up to the present day, focusing on six distinct fossiliferous horizons: the Besano Formation and the overlying Meride Limestone with the Cava inferiore, Cava superiore, Cassina, Sceltrich and Kalkschieferzone beds. All these have provided material for study and display, with Monte San Giorgio itself recently designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The workers and organisations involved, locations excavated and material recovered are described herein.
期刊介绍:
The Swiss Journal of Palaeontology publishes original research and review articles of interest to the international community in the fields of palaeontology, taxonomy and systematics, while recognising at the same time the importance of documenting high-quality palaeontological data in a regional context. Palaeobiology in combination with alpha taxonomy is a core topic of the journal.
Submitted papers should have an appeal as wide as possible, directed towards an international readership. Contributions should not have been simultaneously submitted elsewhere, and the overlap of content between related articles should be minimal. Duplications of text and the use of previously published illustrations without adequate citation are unacceptable. If a manuscript has two or more authors, both or all have to sign to confirm they all were involved in the work and have agreed to its submission. The preferred manuscript language is UK English, but consistently used US English is also acceptable. We encourage the publication of proceedings of international meetings as well as special thematic issues. Short contributions and book reviews are also accepted.
An international editorial team as well as guest editors guarantee that the thematic issues as well as all articles in regular issues are peer-reviewed and meet the highest standards.