L’eruzione del 472 d.C. ed il suo impatto su alcuni siti alle falde del Vesuvio

The AD 472 eruption and its impact on some sites on the slopes of Vesuvius. This contribution provides a multi-disciplinary analysis of the AD 472 eruption of Vesuvius in archaeological contexts. The first section overviews the settlement pattern and the data available on the sites buried by volcanoclastic fill. It further addresses the question of the exact number and main features of the late antique eruptions of Vesuvius (i.e. AD 472, 505 and 512), it reviews the information from literary sources and analyses the evidence from the field. In particular, the impact of the AD 472 eruption on two sites on the northern slopes of Vesuvius – in Pollena Trocchia and Somma Vesuviana – is thoroughly described. The last section deals with the problem of resettlement after AD 472 and puts forward some hypotheses as to how the land recovered.