The 2014 excavations took place between the 28th September and 31st December in the sector investigated in 2013.
Only seven days of actual excavating were managed due to the almost permanently rainy conditions. On wet days, it was not possible to work as the wet rock caused problems for the extraction of the finds and there was a risk of damage to the fossils. The site of Polazzo is constituted by a rock formation surrounded by “red earth” and the layers, on a 12/15° slope, become covered with a reddish patina when wet, which makes it difficult to identify the fossil remains.

The work consisted in extracting and opening limestone slabs (using hammer and chisel) and then checking for the presence of fossils (that is, evidence of life from the geological past). If a fossil was found, the rock containing it was numbered and recorded, than carefully wrapped for transport to the storage facility.

The palaeontological site of Polazzo preserves fossils dating to the Santonian-Coniacian chronostratigraphic interval of the Cretacean System (c. 85 million years ago according to the International Chronostratigraphic Chart of the IUGS, 2013). It includes a lithosome of limestone strata within a carbonate platform of the Upper Cretaceous period, partially disturbed by tectonics. This disturbance makes it difficult to identify the precise continuation of the fossil-bearing body. The particularity of the taphonomy preserved in the laminated limestone consists of the remains of articulated vertebrates (almost all examples of the bony fish Actinopterygii) and land plants in a perfect state of preservation. Therefore, the site can be considered a Konservat-Lagerstaette (sensu Seilacher1970).

As in 2013, the work was undertaken on a surface of c. 15 m2 with an average depth of stratigraphy of about 60 cm, divided into four strata numbered from 1 (upper) to 4 (lower). The 2014 sondage mainly concentrated on strata 3 and 4 and, as in the previous year, the layers were not always suitable for finding and extracting fossils, due to local alterations produced by plant roots (which grow into the cracks in the rock), karstification and presence of calcitic intrusions (linked to the tectonic disturbance). However, some zones in the excavation area presented optimum conditions for the separation of the fissile limestone but, unfortunately, they contained few fossils and the finds consisted only of fish fragments.

A total of eight finds were recovered, from strata 2 (one find), 3 (two finds) and 4 (five finds) (see table 1). These were fragments of fish, still mainly unidentified. The skeletal remains were often still partially covered by a lamina of rock that, obviously, made certain systematic identification impossible without adequate preparation; probably they are mainly – but not exclusively – Teleostei and it is possible to hypothesise a more precise identification for some examples. One (2/2014) was a Pycnodontiformes (a clade of semi-durophagous fish that was widespread in tropical seas during the Cretaceous era) and another find (5/2014) belonged to the Rhynchodercetis genus (a predatory fish with a slender body that only lived during the Upper Cretaceous era), both already known on the site.

Further information on the systematic determination of the finds will only be obtained after they have been prepared and their study is completed.