Investigation of Archaeological Evidence for a Possible 6th-7th Century AD Earthquake in Capo d'Orlando (NE Sicily)

The archaeological site of Capo d’Orlando, located in NE Sicily was intensively inhabited during the Roman and Byzantine periods (3rd to the 7th century AD) during which a bath complex probably associated to a large villa extending seawards was built. Archaeoseismological research shows that during the Byzantine period (6th -7th century AD) this complex suffered damage: (1) collapse of the bath, (2) tilting of parallel dry masonry walls in the same direction, and (3) cracking of the floor in the bath. This damage might have been produced by a seismic event, where the level of destruction indicates a strong shaking. The historic record of earthquakes prior to the year 1000 AD is probably not complete. Actually, only four earthquakes are vaguely reported in the seismic literature for this time span. This lack of historical reports on seismic events does not necessarily mean that any earthquakes happened. Archaeoseismic data show that the island was not quiescent but on the contrary suffered several earthquakes. The analysis presented here, based on detailed site surveys, deals principally with seismic causes but it also takes into account other possible causes with regard to the observed damage.