Living with the volcano: distal responses to the Early Bronze Age Avellino eruption

Abstract

Around 1900 BC, a powerful eruption of Vesuvius covered a large part of central Tyrrhenian Italy in volcanic ash. Based on the results of the research project The Avellino Event: Cultural and Demographic Effects of the Great Bronze Age Eruption of Mount Vesuvius, completed in 2020, we discuss the environmental and societal impacts of the so-called Avellino eruption on the Early Bronze Age societies of central Italy, with special reference to the distal – that is, less heavily affected – Pontine region, to the northwest of the volcano. To this end, we evaluate the limited archaeological data on human presence in this landscape for the periods immediately before and after the Avellino eruption in light of the geological and palynological research conducted by specialists on the Avellino Event Project and published by them in recent papers. Based on an interdisciplinary synthesis of these new data, we apply a landscape classification to the Pontine plain that focuses on dryland and wetland contexts, in order to address the influence of landscape taphonomy on data availability. We use this landscape classification as a tool to assess the palaeogeographical affordances of the landscape for habitation and land use around 1900 BC, to enable strategies for further research. We conclude that while it is possible that the ash rains had temporary harmful effects on flora, fauna and humans, these effects cannot be measured based on the currently available data.