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Archaeoseismology in Sicily: Past Earthquakes and Effects on Ancient Society

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Earthquakes and Their Impact on Society

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Abstract

This work presents a review of archeological evidence of strong earthquakes occurring in Sicily. The earthquakes verified at a time of Greek and Roman colonization during a period of political, economic and social instability. Within this historical context, the earthquake effects earthquakes could have been obscured or otherwise little noticed and consequently the documentary information on ancient earthquakes, when available, is generally sparse and lacking objectivity. The studied cases combine historical and archaeological data together with the evidence of structural damage to archaeological sites. Looking into past, and particularly what the ancient society did knew on earthquakes, and what kind of effects produced on buildings and sites.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Geomagnetismo, Aeronomia e Geofisica Ambientale, via di Vigna Murata, 605, 00143, Rome, Italy

    Carla Bottari

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  1. Carla Bottari
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Correspondence to Carla Bottari .

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  1. Department of Geosciences, University of Malta, Msida Campus, MSD 2080 Msida, Malta

    Sebastiano D'Amico

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Bottari, C. (2016). Archaeoseismology in Sicily: Past Earthquakes and Effects on Ancient Society. In: D'Amico, S. (eds) Earthquakes and Their Impact on Society. Springer Natural Hazards. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21753-6_20

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