Rebuilding after an earthquake: ancient experiences and innovations in Pompeii – RECAP

The project associates several complementary methods.
- The archaeology of construction techniques
The stratigraphic study of the elevations sheds light on the different phases of construction of the buildings and suggests a relative chronology.
On the one hand, it allows for the identification of the traces of the seismic action and the evaluation of the impacts according to the principles of archeoseismology. On the other hand, it allows us to determine the typology of the associated reconstructions).
- Associated GIS
A geographical information system (GIS) for the entire project makes the link between different data used for the study of earthquake-resistant construction techniques, and allows for the development of a genuinely multi-scale approach.
- 3D photogrammatic models
The photographs of the elevations were taken on the ground, using a drone for a rough overview, and more traditional methods for highlighting details.
All the images have been processed using a software programme that automatically and precisely constructs 3-dimensional photogrammetric models. This virtual 3D model is a spatial database that enables the visualisation of all the information collected on the buildings studied.
- Earth science
The origin of the construction materials, their mechanical properties and manufacturing processes are determined by petrographic analysis.
The study of limestone concretions – deposits made from laminated sequences linked to annual cycles – allows a precise chronology of damage and repairs, while the archeomagnetism of the architectural terracotta allows for the precise dating of the phases of restoration.
- Structural engineering
When combined with archaeological observations, engineering allows us to identify the seismic effects and to test the vulnerability of the buildings, through geometry, the characterisation of construction techniques and the mechanical properties of the materials used.

The project is organised in four work packages (WPs) according to a scale-based progression. The site of Pompeii is particularly suited to systematic investigation, both on the small scale, focusing on local case studies (WP1 & 2), and on the large scale, taking a complete overview of the management of construction processes in the ancient town (WP3) and in the Campanian area (WP4).

- WP1. The water towers, public urban infrastructures. The repair of the water towers seems to have been a priority, and reveals a sense of emergency during periods of recurrent risk that informed the evolution of urban planning.
- WP2. The villa of Diomedes, a large suburban aristocratic residence. This second example shows that the reconstruction of a private house also considered the risk factors in its methods for saving the decor.
- WP3. Restoration and urban fabric. This stage widens the study to encompass the whole town. It is characterised by a systematic approach to a whole area of Pompeii, in order to visualise together the post-earthquake restorations undertaken. Regio VII, which takes up 15% of the urban area, has been chosen as is contains a good representative sample of public and private monuments. This widening of the study allows not only a comparison of the conditions of reconstruction, according to the different building categories, but enables us to quantify the damage and thus to better determine the intensity of the earthquake.
- WP4. Risk architecture in Campania. Data from previous studies is then compared with that collected from the whole region, enabling us to show the different geological events (earthquakes, volcanism, bradyism) and human reactions over long time.
The research will associate training schemes for students (internships, doctoral training).

The project aims a wide diffusion of results and scientific valorization: an intermediate workshop, a final congress, two collective publications, an atlas Online, an exhibition.

This project will reveal a whole new aspect of Pompeii, drawing up the dynamic picture of a town under construction and involving infrastructures, dwellings, urban fabric and landscape. Besides the scientific results, various prospects can be expected. The project will have a considerable heritage impact in Pompeii, by highlighting the unfamiliar aspect of a town submitted to earthquakes. By bringing together an international team of researchers specialised in the characterisation of construction techniques and archaeoseismology, it can contribute to the development of new technologies for the study and conservation of the archaeological heritage, such as the association of archaeology, earth science, computer rendering, engineering.

One distinguishing feature of the project is that, far from being restricted to a single case study, it proposes a wide-ranging treatment of the question of vulnerability in the Roman world while asking to what extent Pompeii should be considered as representative. Another feature is the time span involved, proposing a reflection on the memory of catastrophes down the centuries. Questions about risk awareness were already posed in Antiquity: Seneca observes that, following the quake of 62/63, some inhabitants of Campania left the region, swearing never to return…(Nat.Q. 6.1.15). The same issues concerning risk still confront us today. In this respect the collaboration with sociologists engaged in analysis of the consequences of the 1980 earthquake in Irpinia (or indeed of the recent tragic episode at l’Aquila) will throw light on the social, economic and environmental fall-out from seismic episodes and on the mechanisms of reconstruction and integration concerning seismic risk. There is obviously much to be gained by making the local population more aware of the quality of construction techniques and vulnerability in a zone that is at high seismic risk and where construction continues to elude proper supervision or regulation.

Forthcoming:
2016 : WP1 (monograph)
2017 : WP2 (monograph)
2018 : WP2, WP3 and WP4 (atlas of building techniques on line)
2018 : WP3 and WP4 (2 articles)
2018 : exhibition

Knowledge of the seismic risk in Roman towns comes largely from historical sources, which report, more or less reliably, the damage and the rebuilding works. But the conditions and practices of the real works remain, in fact, poorly known. RECAP aims to explore these building processes from a multi-field interpretation of the archaeological data. In the history of Roman construction, this topic defines a little area of research, although it represents a challenge to understand how a high risk and emergency architecture could have evolved. The project aims to answer one key question: in one specific place, did the ancients come up with anti-seismic practices in order to limit the effects of frequent earthquakes? To develop this approach, it focuses on the unique laboratory of Pompeii. This small town in Campania was the victim of several earthquakes which followed one another at short intervals in the last 16 years of its existence, the first, in 62/63 AD, being particularly devastating.
The site will be systematically studied at both the small- and large-scale so as to define the seismic impacts and the ensuing rebuilding work and technical innovations. Two different complexes have been selected as case studies in order to analyse both public and private building sites: the urban water towers, which were a vital element in the town’s functioning, and a large recreational villa, the Villa of Diomedes, that is entirely unpublished. On an urban scale, an overall study will be carried on a whole Regio of Pompeii, in order to characterize the rebuilding works which followed the earthquakes. Then we shall assemble a complete and dynamic overview of the reconstruction processes, involving the mobilisation of men, skills and materials.
Beyond the case study of Pompeii, we shall consider the broader issue of the risk memory and awareness of vulnerability in Campania, including both the Vesuvian area and the Phlegrean Fields. These two territories present different geological features and seismic events and, for this reason, have been studied until now in a separate way. We will propose a combined approach of the effects of the earthquakes and bradyseism in both areas.
The project is committed to fostering a multiple interdisciplinary approach drawing on the archaeology of construction, sociology, computer sciences, structural engineering and earth sciences It will provide excellent training for students in the joint disciplines of archaeological heritage and seismology, through doctoral internships carried out on the ground. It is planning an important dissemination of the results, which is intended for the scientific community and the general public: web site, with database / GIS and 3 D models on line, two monographs, one article, the proceedings of one international conference and one exhibition. Through the historical dimension, it will enhance public awareness of traditional anti-seismic techniques, in particular the local population in the Campania region which is at considerable risk.