THE VESUVIUS POMICI DI AVELLINO PLINIAN ERUPTION AND RELATED PHENOMENA: EFFECTS ON THE BRONZE AGE LANDSCAPE OF CAMPANIA REGION (SOUTHERN ITALY)

Abstract

The Vesuvian Pomici di Avellino eruption affected an area densely inhabited by Early Bronze Age human communities and resulted in the long term abandonment of an extensive zone surrounding the volcano. The study of geological and archaeological sequences have yielded an understanding of the eruption local effects and of their duration. The territory was rapidly abandoned during the eruption. Only few settlements were found of phases 1 and 2 of the Middle Bronze Age in most of the area affected by the eruption. We interpret this as due to diffuse phenomena of remobilization of the erupted pyroclastics, generating long lasting alluvial processes. A significant resettlement of the territory occurred only hundreds of years after the eruption, during phase 3 of the Middle Bronze Age.