Icnofósseis como tema de exposições

Abstract

Ichnofossils are the result of the activities of organisms that have been preserved in sediments and in sedimentary rocks and are found in the place where the organism activity was performed. The ichnofossils can be clues, footprints, excavations, perforations, burrows, nests, eggs, excrement or regurgitates. The São Paulo state countryside, where the Botucatu Formation lays, is one of the most important sites where ichnofossils are found in Latin America. The region of Araraquara and São Carlos cities is where the outcrops of Botucatu Sandstone occur, one of the major access to the ichnofossils diversity from this Formation. The general objectives of the present work were to recover historical facts and build the history of the Museum of Science of São Carlos "Prof. Mário Tolentino" (MCMT); develop the museological documentation of its paleontological objects; restructure the existing paleontology exhibition in the MCMT with the creation of a sector with the "ichnofossils" theme and to locate, identify and propose an exhibition of the existing ichnofossils in the São Paulo Zoo. To build the Museum history, a survey of laws, documents and academical references about the São Carlos city history related to the MCMT was carried out. Experience reported by the people who work in the Museum were also considered. This history rescues the Museum inception until the creation of its educators’ teams, describing their missions and the history of the building where it is located. To develop the museological documentation of the paleontology collection existing in the MCMT, an inventory of the 299 objects loaned from UFSCar under a usage cession regime was carried out, followed by the elaboration and completion of 58 computerized records about the ichnofossils (which facilitate the collection's management and help to disseminate the information about the ichnofossils to other institutions). To restructure the MCMT paleontology exhibition with a focus on the ichnofossils, a re-adaptation of the museum layout was made, followed by the sectors delimitation, 26 objects that would compose the exhibition were selected, visual aids were developed (subtitles and posters, the exhibition logo, color palette and sources), explanatory videos to be displayed in an informational totem were selected and an activity, about paleontology and environmental issues targeting early childhood education, was developed. In order to organize an open sky exhibition on the ichnofossils existing in the sandstone slabs on the sidewalks of the São Paulo Zoo, a survey of these ichnofossils through the photographic documentation and geographical location was conducted, followed by its identification, creation of a general map with their respective locations and the elaboration of an educational plaque model to compose the exhibition with the selection of illustrations and explanatory texts elaboration.