The late-antique eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 472 and its impact from the Bay of Naples to Aeclanum

Abstract

The eruption of A.D. 79 has long dominated archaeological discourse on Vesuvius. Other eruptions, both earlier and later, have received less attention but are no less valuable from an archaeological point of view.1 Those eruptions deposited distinctive volcanic materials often easily identifiable in the stratigraphic record, thereby providing dated termini ante quos, which can in turn offer a snapshot of life around the volcano in different periods. The eruption of A.D. 79 provides just such an horizon for 1st-c. A.D. Campania; the earlier ‘Avellino pumices eruption’ does the same for the Bronze Age.2 By tracking the volcanic deposits that can be tied to such events, the situation on the ground prior to the eruptions can be examined, as can the ways in which communities and landscapes reacted to, and recovered from, them.

New Excavations in the Central and Southern Sectors of Aeclanum in 2019 (Comune Di Mirabella Eclano, Provincia Di Avellino, Regione Campania)

“…A wall arranged diagonally to the exterior wall was added and a new floor surface, consisting of a simple working surface, laid over the earlier tiled floor. The ceramics from the occupation layers on top of this floor dated to the fourth and fifth centuries AD, and indicate that at this date this area of the macellum had been turned over to domestic use (De Simone and Russell, 2019b; Castaldo, De Simone, Russell, in press). This confirmed evidence uncovered here in the middle of the twentieth century (Tocco Sciarelli, 1999: 251).…”

“…This confirmed evidence uncovered here in the middle of the twentieth century (Tocco Sciarelli, 1999: 251). The macellum , in sum, like the theatre at the site, seems to have become at least partially a residential structure by the time the eruption of AD 472 struck (De Simone and Russell, 2019a; 2019b).…”

“…In 2017 and 2018, the excavations and survey undertaken by the University of Edinburgh and Apolline Project team at Aeclanum uncovered abundant evidence of a lively late antique phase in the city. This was clearest in the baths in the north of the city, which were extensively refurbished in the fourth and fifth centuries, and in the theatre, where the substructures of the cavea of the disused structure were turned into dwellings (De Simone and Russell, 2019a; 2019b). In both sectors, volcanic layers associated with the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 472 were exposed and analysed (De Simone and Russell, 2019b).…”

“…This was clearest in the baths in the north of the city, which were extensively refurbished in the fourth and fifth centuries, and in the theatre, where the substructures of the cavea of the disused structure were turned into dwellings (De Simone and Russell, 2019a; 2019b). In both sectors, volcanic layers associated with the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 472 were exposed and analysed (De Simone and Russell, 2019b). Alongside these excavations, GPR survey revealed much of the urban topography of the city centre, especially its street network, and highlighted a particularly densely built-up sector in the south of the city, running west of the forum and never explored before (Fig.…”