Carlo Rescigno

<p>Plinian eruptions are powerful explosive volcanic events that impact large areas with cubic kilometers of magma emplaced as pyroclastic material accumulated in thick blankets around the volcanic vents. The violence of the emplacement mechanism (i.e., fallout or pyroclastic density currents, PDC) and the sudden burial of the landscape, make these types of eruptions extremely dangerous. Aiming to fully understand these phenomena, an accurate reconstruction of the physical behaviour and the historical record of a volcano is critical as starting point for the assessment of volcanic hazard. In this scenario an excellent case is the worldwide-known Plinian AD 79 Vesuvius eruption, which destroyed Roman towns with large effects preserved in different sites around the volcano. This study reports the results of a collaboration between the Archaeological Park of Pompeii and the University of Napoli Federico II to document the stratigraphic sequence and the type and extent of damage and victims buried under meters of pyroclastic material within the Pompeii and Stabiae archaeological sites. A systematic survey of well exposed outcrops along the recent excavations front allowed us to study in detail the facies variations of the different PDC stratigraphic units and how their distribution is affected even by urban structures. At Pompeii, the stratified ash PDC succession ranges in thickness from few tens of centimetres to two metres and shows considerable vertical and lateral variations in its sedimentological features. The layer associated with the most destructive impact on the Roman buildings shows down-current variation in thickness (0 to 330 cm) and texture. Where it is less than 30 cm thick, the deposit is fine-grained and thinly stratified, with few rounded pumice clasts scattered inside the matrix. Where it thickens, the lower part is rich in coarse pumice lapilli and locally shows well-developed stratifications, while the upper part shows an internal arrangement of alternating layers of fine and coarse ash, forming progressive bedforms. Upwards, the sequence is made up of a succession of plane-parallel ash layers with rare pumice lapilli clasts and diffuse accretionary lapilli. This ash sequence is interstratified with four well-sorted, thin lithic-rich layers that exhibit mantling structures of fall deposits. All PDC layers, except the lowermost, are dispersed across the entire Pompeii area, although some are locally missing as a result of the erosive action of the following PDC. At Stabiae, the ash PDC sequence is 83 cm thick. In few rooms of the Roman villa the ash deposits thicken up to 150 cm. Most of the ash layers identified at Pompeii are recognized also at Stabiae. In the upper part of the sequence a new PDC layer, never reported at Pompeii, is here documented for the first time. Damages are documented inside the more destructive ash layer and even in the upper ash layers, providing new insights about the risk assessment in distal areas.</p>

The paper discusses recent and integrated investigations in the Sanctuary of Apollo in Pompeii, which contribute to the overall understanding of the diachronic evolution of this sacred place, from the archaic period to the eruption of AD 79. High-resolution geophysical surveys have been interpreted in comparison with a new reading of the publication of Maiuri's excavations and the most recent excavations. The latest research offers significant additional information, not only on the constructive episodes of the architectural complex and the urban landscape in which it is inserted, but also on aspects related to the cult of Apollo and the associated rituality.

This work summarizes the spectroscopic-assisted archaeometric study of the most important terracotta statue of Poseidonia-Paestum (Italy), the so-called Zeus Enthroned (VI sec. BC). The selected analytical strategy combines the mineralogical and molecular information provided by X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman analysis with the elemental data obtained from X-Ray fluorescence (XRF) and Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled to Energy Dispersive Spectrometry (SEM/EDS). To shed light on the raw materials used to create and decorate this unique artwork, the analytical results gathered in this study helped disclosing the applied production technology. As suggested by the detected mineral assemblages, the body was prepared in two steps, using calcareous clay (CC) rich in Mg- and Fe- minerals as raw materials. The inner core and the outer depurated layers were both fired in oxidizing conditions but reaching different temperatures (≥900 °C and 850-900 °C respectively). The statue was decorated by firing manganese- (jacobsite MnFe2O4) and iron- (hematite Fe2O3) oxides in oxidizing conditions. Knowing that the decoration techniques based on the use of Mn-oxides were mastered by Etruscans rather than by Ancient Greeks, the obtained results suggest a transfer of production technology across borders, thus providing an additional clue about the flourishing commercial and cultural exchanges occurred between Greek colonies and Italic pre-Roman societies.

From the earliest colonial times the necropolis of Cumae has been characterised by cremation burials, deposited in a bronze or silver urn and placed in a stone cist. This burial system, present in different iterations throughout time, is well known and widely discussed in the literature. The presence of textiles used to wrap the bones or metal containers is recorded in the early 19th century excavation reports and has been confirmed by subsequent research. This use of textiles has been traditionally explained in light of the Homeric descriptions of heroic funerals. This paper attempts to systematically collect the available evidence, and to compare the information on funerary ceremonies that are known from the literary sources, with the data provided by the current analysis of extant textiles. The data collected to date indicate a continuity of specific textile use within cremation burials of Archaic Cumae, which whilst mimicking a much older tradition, express very different social...