A History of Ideas in Ichnology - Trace Fossils as Indicators of Sedimentary Environments - page 4

FIGURE 1 Beginnings of ichnology. (A) Miocene bioeroded mollusk found within Paleolithic
cultural layers. Scale bar: 1 cm (Doln´ Vˇstonice II, Czech Republic; Jaroˇov´ et al., 2004 in Supple-
mentary Material: http://booksite.elsevier.com/9780444538130 ) . (B) Ichnological symbols
commonly used in Australian Aboriginal art. Clockwise from top left: emu footprint, kangaroo track,
burrow, goanna (monitor lizard) track. (C) Eighteenth century azulejo (painted, glazed ceramic tile-
work) depicting Nossa Senhora da Pedra Mua (Our Lady of the Mule Stone). A set of footprints is
clearly visible on the sea cliff. Memory Chapel, Cabo Espichel (Portugal). (D) Trace fossils in the
Italian Renaissance: Cosmorhaphe , as represented in Aldrovandi's Musaeum Metallicum .
Australian people developed remarkable neoichnological abilities, gaining a
detailed understanding of animal behavior through the interpretation of tracks
and burrows ( Ellena and Escalante, 2007 ). The crucial role of tracking is mirrored
in the rich vocabulary for traces and their conditions, often without equivalents in
European languages. In Walmajarri language, tracks left after rain are called
murrmarti , and a goanna burrow in soft sand that is too deep for the animal to
be reached is called purruj . Similarly, Aboriginal art has a visual vocabulary
for traces, consisting of standard symbols for each kind of track ( Fig. 1 B).