Abstract
Around 1995 BC, during the Early Bronze Age, a giant eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried a flourishing landscape of villages and fields in the plains to the north and east of the volcano under more than a meter of ash. Inhabitants of Campanian sites such as Nola ("the Bronze Age Pompeii") could barely escape with their lives. Italian archaeological research since the 1980s has conclusively shown that the population of the Campanian plain did not fully recover for several centuries after this so-called "Avellino Event". Oddly, no one has yet wondered where the substantial Early Bronze Age population of Campania could have flown to, and what impacts it would have had there. Given the topography of central-southern Italy, the most likely refuge area will have been to the north, in the coastal zone of what is now South Lazio. Here, two wetland coastal plains - the Fondi basin and the Agro Pontino - could have provided the space and resources to absorb the fleeing population. Long-standing Dutch research programs in these areas have already shown that both have a continuous sedimentary record that covers the period of interest and that, crucially, includes the Avellino volcanic ash as a chronological marker. This means that archaeological and palaeo-ecological observations of the requisite high chronological resolution and quality can be made to identify changes occurring immediately after the eruption. Complementing current research efforts in Campania by Italian geologists and archaeologists, this program aims to demonstrate and document any significant demographic, environmental and cultural impacts that would result from the presence of the postulated Early Bronze Age refugee population in South Lazio. Three post-doctoral researchers, experienced in interdisciplinary geoarchaeological studies, will investigate these interrelated impacts and assess the multiple lines of evidence needed to substantiate or disprove our central hypothesis.