During the archaeological surveillance service carried out by Eng. Damiano Martorelli, Ph.D. in the context of a construction site for land improvement and the planting of a new vineyard in the Loc. Fiamene in Negrar di Valpolicella (VR), in an area subject to restrictions by the Superintendency of Verona, important evidence of fossil ferns has been found in a limestone layer.

Click on the pictures to see bigger

The provisional interpretation is that it is vegetation in a marshy area in what was at the time the border with the marine area (similar to the Florida Everglades). An important calamitous event led to a significant flood phenomenon (the estimated thickness of the limestone layer is approximately one meter) such as to incorporate the vegetation.

This, prisoner of the mud, has not had the opportunity to degrade due to the anaerobic conditions of the muddy layer. With the subsequent rise of the seas, a further white limestone layer buried the thickness for millennia, mineralizing the vegetation.

The subsequent Alpine orogeny, which began over two hundred million years ago, subsequently raised the now mineralized layer to its current altitude (around 1000 m above sea level).

During the excavation work for the creation of banks for viticulture purposes, the white limestone surface layer was engraved and at a depth of about 50 cm from the current surface, the red limestone blocks emerged with the beautiful evidence of the ancient vegetation imprinted in the stone in an indelible way, with a rich detail of the vegetal component still visible today.