ICHNOLOGY ON THE CRIME SCENE

Among the Forensic Geosciences, Forensic Paleontology (sensu Sacchi & Nicosia 2013) could play an important role. It proved to be a very powerful tool in law enforcement activities and it’s frequently applied in criminology and criminalistics in leading countries such as United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and many others; unfortunately, in Italy, this is a newborn area of study and is still practically unknown. Among the branches of Forensic Paleontology, Ichnology, developed essentially to study fossil footprints (Paleoichnology), is to date the discipline that best suits the study of footwear impressions and trackways on a crime scene. It provides useful tools and techniques to detect, recover and examine this type of evidences. To maximize the power of Ichnology in law enforcement activities it will be necessary, in a short time, to perform a well settled procedure, in order to see its results accepted by the scientific-forensic community and thus formally admissible in Court.