‘Fossiliferous' vs. ‘palaeontological' deposits

What is it about?

This short essay intends to provide insight into the concepts of ‘fossiliferous deposit’ and ‘palaeontological deposit’ by identifying some of their semantic differences. Also, a brief discussion on the epistemic value of the dichotomy ‘to deposit’ versus ‘to reposit’ applied to palaeontological museology is brought up.

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Why is it important?

Although fossiliferous deposits are studied in palaeontology, to make a semantic distinction between fossiliferous and palaeontological deposits is heuristically important. At first sight, it can give the impression that this distinction is rather hair-splitting. However, from the point of view of philosophy of science, fossiliferous and palaeontological deposits should be considered two different epistemological (as well as ontological) categories.

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