Preliminary archaeobotanical evidence from Early Bronze Age Afragola reveals the season of the Plinian eruption of the Pomici di Avellino (Southern Italy)

Abstract

The Early Bronze Age Village of Afragola (Southern Italy) is exceptional for the quality of its preservation, especially when contrasted with comparable archaeological sites across Europe. The Pomici di Avellino, a Plinian eruption of Somma Vesuvius (3,945 + 10 cal BP; 1,935–1,880 BCE, 1 σ; 2,040–1,740 BCE), engulfed the village of Afragola with almost a 1 m of volcanic ash. During the phreomagmatic phase of the eruption a wave of mud slowly penetrated the structures burying their contents. The solidification of the mud (cinerite) subsequently created casts of the entire village and the neighboring landscape. The unusually rich and varied archaeobotanical record preserved at Afragola resulting from this sudden eruption can help fill the void in archaeobotanical studies during the Early Bronze Age in southern Italy.This preliminary study investigates the following: firstly, the impressions of archaeobotanical remains in the cinerite; secondly, plant remains; and lastly, the macro-remains embedded in the cinerite. These analyses are undertaken to establish the precise season in which the eruption occurred.This evidence reveals the presence of vegetal components consist of deciduous and semi-deciduous oak groves, mixed with other spontaneous species used for nutrition.The determination of seasonality is based on the defoliation of deciduous species and on the fruiting periods of ripe edible fruit found in synchrony with their foliage at the base of tree trunks and shrubs imprinted in the cinerite.