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In SW Slovenia, the Late Cretaceous rudist limestones are rimmed by Paleogene carbonates. In the clastic and carbonate successions, the K/T boundary is characterized by pronounced changes in the abiotic and biotic domain. In carbonates, The Paleocene/Eocene transitional interval shows distinct peaks in the delta 13 C values and a rather slow changes among the larger foraminifera (representatives of the genera Assilina, Alveolina, Lacazina, Nummulites of the shallow benthic zones SBZ 4/SBZ 5), whereas in the clastic sequences more pronounced differences are observed in the changes of the compositions of the isotopes and of the calcareous nannoplankton associations.

Microbialite units are commonly found within the Mesozoic–Tertiary carbonate succession of the Karst District of Slovenia and Italy. They record environmental conditions, which are linked with both local and global events.

Actuopalaeontology is the logical synthesis between palaeontology and biology. The goals of actuopalaeontology are: i) to emphasize the role of the palaeontological disciplines within the archaeological research; ii) to realize a palaeontological guide for both, archaeologists and researchers from other disciplines, in other words, non-specialists; iii) to reconstruct natural and/or anthropic scenarios: palaeoenvironments and palaeoclimates. In particular, this work plans to discuss actuopalaeontology’s role in geoarchaeological research, following the points of view of both archaeologist and actuopalaeontologist. The archaeologist has to obtain by him-self preliminary taxonomic and environmental observations to subsequently involve the right specialist. He should be able to recognize the organic remains found in archaeological excavations and boreholes through a first simple identification and, subsequently, obtain a preliminary palaeoenvironmental interpretation, using a table reporting the life-environment of the most common organisms. The actuopalaeontologist has to better define the preliminary interpretations of the non-specialist evidencing the precise taxonomic aspects and the right palaeocological and palaeoclimatic results. The actuopalaeontologist has to interact with other disciplines; moreover, he should be able to perform specific analyses like microtomography, SEM and isotopic geochemistry to refine the palaeoenvironmental and the palaeoclimatic interpretations.