Abstract
Archaeological and historical studies, conducted since 1950, allow us to trace a hypothetical demographic framework in which three crises attributed by scholars to unfavourable social-economic situations or to war aggression, can be observed. The comparison with volcanological studies highlights the occurrence during the crisis of volcanic events that can affect the local anthropic history. The first crisis occurred in 4th millennium BC involved all the Aeolian Islands and in particular Contrada Diana the main Neolithic site of Lipari. During the Diana Spatarella facies are documented the reduction of the coastal settlement of Contrada Diana, the choice to inhabit the Rocca del Castello, and the settlements development on areas protected from the volcanic activity. These facts support the hypothesis that Contrada Diana could be exposed to the effects of the tsunami waves caused by Sciara del Fuoco collapse of Stromboli, and indirectly to the eruptions of Gran Cratere of Vulcano that also caused problems to the sailors travelling from mainland to Lipari and back. The second crisis located between 9th and 6th century BC could be similarly caused by the effects of the strong eruptive phase occurred 2.9 ka at Vulcano and the tsunami produced by another sector collapse occurred at the end of the Neostromboli. As during the first crisis, even the navigation from mainland to Lipari will have been involved making difficult this destination. The third crisis is happened in the historical period between 6th and 11th century with a possible peak during the eruption of Monte Pilato occurred in 776 AD in the NE sector of the Lipari.
Highlights
The importance of comparing archaeological data with the history of the Aeolian Islands volcanoes (Figure 1) was soon understood by Luigi Bernabò Brea and Madeleine Cavalier with the publication, in 1991, of the volume "Isole Eolie
This work will try to link volcanological and historical/archaeological data, in order to identify a possible correspondence between the catastrophic events due to the volcanic activity and the crisis situations of the human history in the frame of the cultural chronological development of the Aeolian Islands [Bernabò Brea and Cavalier, 1991c: 125-127; Martinelli, 2016; Levi et al, 2011]
The Aeolian Islands represent the subaerial part of an extended volcanic arc that rises from the depths of the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, northeast of Sicily (Figure 1)
Summary
The importance of comparing archaeological data with the history of the Aeolian Islands volcanoes (Figure 1) was soon understood by Luigi Bernabò Brea and Madeleine Cavalier with the publication, in 1991, of the volume "Isole Eolie. Almost the entire archipelago was occupied at that time except for some periods of long lasting, in which the islands were almost uninhabited, or suffered a significant reduction in population, the causes of which are not yet fully known These demographic crises have been generally attributable to cultural and environmental changes that involved southern Italy and, in a broader. This work will try to link volcanological and historical/archaeological data, in order to identify a possible correspondence between the catastrophic events due to the volcanic activity and the crisis situations of the human history in the frame of the cultural chronological development of the Aeolian Islands [Bernabò Brea and Cavalier, 1991c: 125-127; Martinelli, 2016; Levi et al, 2011]. In the recent bibliography [Binder et al, 2017; Tinè and Natali, 2014; Fiorentino et al, 2013:1303; Pessina and Tinè, 2012: 47-48; Maniscalco, 2000: 504] the Middle Neolithic of southern Italy and
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