Rockfall Threatening Cumae Archeological Site Fruition (Phlegraean Fields Park—Naples)

Rita De Stefano,Vincenzo Morra,Fabio Pagano,Domenico Iovane,Diego Di Martire,Luigi Guerriero,Leopoldo Repola

doi:10.3390/su13031390

Abstract

Natural hazards threaten many archaeological sites in the world; therefore, susceptibility analysis is essential to reduce their impacts and support site fruition by visitors. In this paper, rockfall susceptibility analysis of the western slope of the Cumae Mount in the Cumae Archaeological Site (Phlegraean Fields, Naples), already affected by rockfall events, is described as support to a management plan for fruition and site conservation. Being the first Greek settlement in southern Italy, the site has great historical importance and offers unique historical elements such as the Cumaean Sibyl’s Cave. The analysis began with a 3D modeling of the slope through digital terrestrial photogrammetry, which forms a basis for a geomechanical analysis. Digital discontinuity measurements and cluster analysis provide data for kinematic analysis, which pointed out the planar, wedge and toppling failure potential. Subsequently, a propagation-based susceptibility analysis was completed into a GIS environment: it shows that most of the western sector of the site is susceptible to rockfall, including the access course, a segment of the Cumana Railroad and its local station. The work highlights the need for specific mitigation measures to increase visitor safety and the efficacy of filed-based digital reconstruction to support susceptibility analysis in rockfall prone areas.

Highlights

The province of Naples is known for its cultural heritage, expression of the city’s and its surrounding zones’ history
The geomechanical analysis derived by the dense point cloud highlight the presence of a total of 118 discontinuities (Figure 4b)
The Italian territory is scattered with important archaeological sites, 51 of which

Summary

Introduction

The province of Naples is known for its cultural heritage, expression of the city’s and its surrounding zones’ history. It is rich in archaeological sites and parks that have preserved its historic asset and that have been increasingly exploited by means of specific projects and adoption of measures aimed at improving sites and making their fruition safer [1,2]. The Cumae Archaeological Site (Figure 1) [3,4,5], in the Phlegraean Fields Park, harbors the homonymous ancient city. Being the first Greek western colony, founded in the second half of the 8th century B.C., Cumae is one of the most important archaeological sites of the area. The archaeological site is known for the Cumaean Sibyl’s

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