Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
www.elsevier.com/locate/tecto
Surface faulting of archaeological relics. A review of case histories
from the Dead Sea to the Alps
Paolo Galli a,*, Fabrizio Galadini b
b
a
Italian Seismic Survey, Servizio Sismico Nazionale (SSN), Via Curtatone 3, 00185 Rome, Italy
CNR-Istituto di Ricerca per la Tettonica Recente, Via del Fosso del Cavaliere, 00133 Rome, Italy
Received 6 June 2000; accepted 19 April 2001
Abstract
We report several cases of surface faulting on archaeological relics along the Dead Sea Valley, in Crete, and in central and
northern Italy. With the exception of the Fucino normal faults (central Italy), all the faulting is related to strike-slip or oblique
motions. We describe only those sites for which paleoseismological or speci®c geological analyses had con®rmed the existence
of an active fault, thus omitting any ambiguous interpretation of effects attributable to other natural or anthropic phenomena. All
the cases reviewed allowed us to assume the age of the faulting event and the amount of slip, thus characterising unknown or
poorly known destructive earthquakes. The use of archaeoseismological analyses, and particularly of the faulting of archaeological relics, always improves our knowledge of the seismicity and seismotectonics of regions for which the information
about the historical seismicity and/or the geological evidence are scarce or uncertain. q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights
reserved.
Keywords: Archaeoseismology; Paleoseismology; Active faults; Earthquakes; Seismotectonics
1. Introduction
There is an invisible line that shared the fate of
many human settlements in the last 5000 years. An
invisible line that goes up from the Red Sea to the
Alps, crossing time, places and history. A line
tightened between two rare and unlikely events: the
occurrence and the coexistence in the same place
of surface faulting and buildings. The recent earthquakes in northern Turkey (August 17, 1999: Mw
7.4; November 12, 1999: Mw 7.2; USGS, 1999) and
central Taiwan (September 20, 1999; Mw 7.6, USGS,
1999) showed us that even today we do not know
(actually, we do not suf®ciently care) how and
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (P. Galli).
where to build. The dozen kilometres long surface
faulting, with offsets of up to 4.9 and 8 m (respectively for the Turkish and Taiwan earthquake),
crossed houses, schools, railways, roads, bridges,
rivers and canals (Fig. 1), destroying all that is
encountered (Toksoz et al., 1999). The existence
and the rough location of these faults were well
known, as well as the high probability of a sudden
slippage during an earthquake was already forecast
by many authors, (e.g. Stein et al., 1997).
Our ancestors, who did not take advantage of a
good geological and seismological knowledge,
unwarily located their buildings on the trace of active
faults, sometimes drawn by favourable topographic
features produced by the repeated fault motions (e.g.
hill pushed up by transcurrent fault).
Although extensive surface breaks are known to
0040-1951/01/$ - see front matter q 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0040-195 1(01)00109-3
292
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
Fig. 1. Northern Turkey, earthquake of November 12, 1999 (Mw ˆ 7:2). Horizontal faulting (about 2 m) of a canal under construction near the
village of Kaynasli. The arrows indicate the fault trace (courtesy of V. Bosi).
occur also for earthquakes of moderate magnitude
(i.e. the 7 km long rupture produced by the 1995 Ml ˆ
6:2 Gulf of Corinth event, Roberts and Koukouvelas,
1996, or the 5 km long discontinuous rupture
generated by the October 14, 1997 central Italy
event, Ms ˆ 5:5; Galli and Galadini, 1999), surface
faulting occurs mainly for earthquakes of high energy
(M $ 6:5), whose hypocentral depth does not exceed
the upper part of the crust (10±20 km). Depending on
the earthquake energy, its depth, and the rheology of
the rocks, the rupture may affect the earth morphology
for lengths of few hundred meters up to hundreds of
kilometres, causing offsets of few decimetres up to
several metres. Generally, the surface faulting is
concentrated along a narrow band, sometimes reduced
to few metres or even less, and repeated earthquakes
along a speci®c fault usually cause surface ruptures
in the same place. Then, taking account of the
Fig. 2. Index map of the sites described in the text. The Dead Sea star includes six different sites.
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
quasi-linear dimension of a seismogenic fault on the
earth surface and the insigni®cant dimension of a
building compared with the earth surface, the probability that an active fault displaces a house (especially in the antiquity) is very low. This is why the
recognition of the surface faulting of archaeological
relics is an exceptional circumstance that offers a
unique opportunity to study the behaviour of a fault.
In the following, we deal with some cases of
faulting that affect archaeological remains which
were destroyed and abandoned for ever (Fig. 2). We
included only cases whose archaeological evidences
were supported by geological or paleoseismological
data, thus omitting those cases with effects possibly
produced by gravity-driven phenomena, soil settlement (i.e. liquefaction, compaction, etc.) or human
activity (Karcz and Kafri, 1978). Some of these
cases allowed us to discover previously unknown
earthquakes and to give a minimum evaluation of
their magnitude and recurrence time. Others allowed
the relocation and reevaluation of poorly known
earthquakes, providing an excellent epicentral
location. In some circumstances, the ®nding of faulted
ruins not only demonstrated that known tectonic
structures are active, but also enabled the identi®cation of new ones. Anyway, other examples of faulted
architectural relics, which provide valuable data on
active tectonics and archaeoseismology, are known
(Hancock and Altunel, 1997; Trifonov, 1978; Zang
et al., 1986; Stiros, 1996).
The use of archaeoseismological data demonstrates
that for regions where the resolution of the seismotectonics problem is particularly dif®cult, the integration of the classic methods of geology and seismology
with those of archaeology and history could be of
fundamental importance for studies aimed at the
reduction of seismic risk. Therefore, the collaboration
among geologists, archaeologists, engineers and
historians should become a rule (a rational and
comprehensive interdisciplinary methodology, as
suggested by Karcz, pers. comm.) for understanding
archaeoseismological cases, and not a sporadic
meeting on the ®eld.
2. The Wadi Araba Fault (Jordan)
The Wadi Araba Fault runs in the bottom of the
293
Fig. 3. Shaded relief map of the Middle East region (derived from
GTOPO30 data set, courtesy of US Geological Survey's EROS Data
Center) crossed by the Wadi Araba-Jordan Valley Fault (AJF) (tiny
lines are secondary faults, related to the activity of AJF; modi®ed
after Galli, 1999). The rocked towers are the archaeoseismic cases
described in the text. White arrows indicate the relative plate motion
between Africa and Arabia. The age of the most signi®cant historical earthquakes is also reported.
Dead Sea Rift from the Gulf of Aqaba to the southern
Dead Sea. Together with the Jordan Valley Fault, it
separates the African and the Arabian Plates, acting as
a left transform fault between the two plates and
294
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
Fig. 4. Map of Ayla according to Whitcomb (1994) (modi®ed). The western side of the town is affected by sinistral wrenching that displaces the
southern wall and forces the northwestern wall to rotate counterclockwise (see inset photo).
accounting for the whole horizontal motion. The
sur®cial trace of these faults can be followed for
hundreds of kilometres from Red Sea to Lebanon
(Fig. 3). On the basis of geological studies on these
faults, Galli (1999) evaluated a slip-rate during the
Holocene close to 1 cm yr 21. We know that many
strong earthquakes occurred in the Dead Sea Rift
since Biblical time, although some of their epicentral
locations have not been yet well de®ned. Nevertheless, the geomorphic features produced by the Wadi
Araba-Jordan Valley Fault (AJF, i.e. extensive
surface-faulting phenomena) account for its seimogenetic characteristics and its primary role in the regional seismotectonics. On the other hand, the seismicity of
the last hundred years is mainly represented by lowmoderate events (only the Jericho 1927 event reached
Ms ˆ 6:2; Vered and Striem, 1977; Ambraseys et al.,
1994).
In the following, we report three interesting cases
of faulting of archaeological relics along the Wadi
Araba Fault, which were reported by Galli (1997,
1999).
2.1. Aqaba
Whitcomb (1994) reported traces of displacements
affecting the wall of the ancient Ayla (the present
Aqaba; Figs. 3 and 4). The author describes an
outward slump of a portion of the SW wall of the
city, accompanied by the shifting of its foundation,
and places on the site-map a NE±SW `line' that
displaces the whole town sinistrally. He also describes
the presence of `fault lines' affecting the area north of
the Egyptian Gate and the area of the Sea Gate (Fig. 4;
Donald Whitcomb, Earthquake at Aqaba: unpublished
manuscript).
The site survey performed during 1996 allowed us to
point out other traces of deformation affecting the NW
town wall (northward of the Egyptian Gate; the wall
appears rotated counterclockwise in its northern
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
295
Fig. 5. Map of Qasir el Telah area. The AJF crosses and displaces the northwestern corner of the Roman±Nabatean reservoir. Hatched areas
represent pre-Quaternary basement (modi®ed after Galli, 1999).
portion; Fig. 4) and some secondary displacements in
the foundation and the walls of a buried building, which
was excavated in trenches outside the Egyptian Gate.
Actually, the line traced by Whitcomb (1994) (it
was drawn along the Wadi of Fig. 4) did not seem
to affect the houses which were excavated during
1995 on its projection along the Wadi.
Instead, considering the counterclockwise rotation
of the NW wall as the effect of a left-wrench in the
foundations (as expected for a left strike-slip fault
296
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
Fig. 6. View of the western wall of the the Roman±Nabatean reservoir of Qasir el Telah. The vertical arrow indicates the corner wrenched and
tilted by the AJF. The oblique arrow indicates the fault trace.
with a low angle of incidence), we hypothesise the
presence of a NNE±SSW fault from the Sea Gate
across the rotated blocks of the wall (Fig. 4).
According to this observation, the sites have undergone horizontal displacement mainly due to left-slip
on a NNE±SSW direction, consistent with the main
trend of the neighbouring Wadi Araba Fault and,
probably, related to the left strike-slip faults bounding
the eastern side of Aqaba Gulf. Although, due to the
sand dune presence, all around the excavated town
and due to recent anthropic works (roads, hotels,
etc.), no geomorphic expression of this fault was
visible in the area.
As for the dating of the sur®cial faulting, it
must be stressed that Ayla reached the peak of
its prosperity during the 9th±11th century and
historical±archaeological data indicate that the
town, by the 11th century, began to decline and
®nally collapsed. The abrupt abandonment of the
town may have been contemporary or shortly postdating the sur®cial displacements observed in
the walls and in the foundations. In fact, the walls
do not present restorations made by the ancient
inhabitants and also Whitcomb reconstructed the
arch of the Egyptian Gate exactly duplicating the
arch as it was found on the ground, i.e. without
keystone, probably lost during the earthquakeinduced shaking.
Damage and deformation might be related to the
earthquake that occurred along the Wadi Araba
Fault in 1068 (Abou Karaki, 1987). This date seems
to be con®rmed by Whitcomb (1997), who found
many traces of abrupt destruction and abandonment
(i.e. refuse amidst stone fall in the Egyptian Street,
or ceramic vessels broken in situ and ®lling the
courtyard behind the mihrab of the mosque) chronologically consistent with the 1068 ad earthquake.
Finally, Zilberman et al. (1998), on the basis of
paleoseismological evidence, proposed to relocate
the epicentre of the 1068 ad. earthquake just along
the southern segment of the Wadi Araba Fault, in
agreement with the above mentioned data.
2.2. Qasir el Telah
On the northern strand of the Wadi Araba Fault, a
few kilometres south of the Dead Sea, the impressive
ruins of the square water reservoir of Qasir el Telah lie
above the AJF scarp trace, on the northern side of the
mouth of Wadi el Telah (Galli, 1997, 1999; Figs. 3
and 5). The eastern wall of the reservoir is cut in the
bedrock, and the rest of the structure is built by
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
297
Fig. 7. Sketch of the Roman±Nabatean reservoir of Qasir el Telah with the trace of the AJF (drawn by E. Cirese).
cemented and plastered sandstone blocks. The
foundation is carved in stiff gravel, and strong
counterforts reinforce its southeastern side. Starting
roughly from a pervasive crack at half its length, the
southeastern wall, which is a very well-preserved and
rectilinear structure striking N608E, is tilted counterclockwise with a 30 cm offset measured at the eastern
corner. On the contrary, the western corner is tilted
eastwards and it is separated from the surrounding
wall by a 0.5±1 m wide, N108W striking fracture
(Fig. 6), which is aligned with the AJF scarp north
of the Qasir. The corner and its foundation are shifted
southwards jutting out 0.5±1 m in comparison with
the southeastern wall. This deformation seems to
be the result of fault-induced sinistral wrenching.
Given the amount of the bulge of the western corner
(80 cm) and the low angle of incidence between the
fault and the SW wall (208), the horizontal displacement might be 1.5±2 m, being consistent with the
offset of the northern wall (Fig. 7).
The age of the reservoir can be deduced from the
age of some pottery fragments found at the site
(Nabatean period, with a few Roman±Byzantine
shards; Khouri, 1988). Some restorations of the southwestern wall, made with the same stone and building
style of the reservoir, imply that the damaging event
probably occurred at about the same time of the
reservoir construction, i.e. during or shortly after the
time of the Roman occupation (1st±5th century ad).
In fact, the site should be the Roman site of Toloana,
which housed a military garrison in the 4th century ad
(in Notitia Dignitatum).
A 14C dating of a piece of charcoal found inside
the `concrete' (Klinger, 1999) gave a calibrated
age of 558±776 ad. This age, however, is not
consistent with the younger construction age of the
reservoir deduced thanks to the above-mentioned
pottery.
The very little evidence of Islamic ceramic found in
this site induces us to conclude that the reservoir was
not in use after the Roman±Byzantine period,
probably owing to the damage suffered by the faulting
induced by a strong earthquake. This event may be the
one responsible for the extensive damage in the region
and in the nearby city of Petra (Hammond, 1980;
Russel, 1980) in the year 363 ad (M $ 6:5; epicentre
298
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
Fig. 8. View of the Roman±Nabatean (?) aqueduct in Wadi Khunaizir. In this site, the aqueduct is displaced by a secondary fault related to the
AJF system.
in central-northern Wadi Araba according to Abou
Karaki, 1987). According to this hypothesis, this
earthquake could be then related to the northern strand
of the Wadi Araba Fault.
sites, we can suppose that both were struck by the
same seismic event in 363 ad.
2.3. Wadi Khunaizir
Emerging from the NW corner of the Dead Sea on
the Israeli side, as a continuation of the aforementioned Wadi Araba Fault, the Jordan Valley Fault
strikes about N108E and, after having crossed the
Jordan River, it continues straight (with small bends
and steps) toward Lake Tiberias until the Hula
depression. In the following, we report the other
three cases of faulting of archaeological relics
(Galli, 1997, 1999).
Farther north, approaching the Dead Sea trough, the
AJF branches both in sub-parallel segments and
lateral splays, and crosses the deeply carved Wadi
Khunaizir. Along the right bottom of the Wadi,
there are the suggestive ruins of a masonry aqueduct,
partly built on archways and partly entrenched in the
hillslope. Further upstream, through a deep trench
carved in the rock, the aqueduct reaches an ancient
water intake. The age of this aqueduct is still
unknown, although its technical and stylistic characteristics are very close to the reservoir of Qasir el
Telah.
Along the entrenched strand, the aqueduct shows
traces of faulting at least in two points. One due to a
N208W splay of the AJF that caused a dextral displacement of 2 m (Fig. 8), and a second one, not far
away, due to a N±S branch of the fault, which caused
a vertical offset not larger than few decimetres.
As for the earthquake responsible for these displacements, if the age of the aqueduct is the same as
of Qasir el Telah, considering the vicinity of the two
3. The Jordan Valley Fault (Jordan and Israel)
3.1. Telleilat Ghassul (Jordan)
Ghassul is a very old settlement, built on a small,
¯at tell lying few kilometres east from the AJF and
north of the Dead Sea. For about a 1000 years, from
4600 to 3600 bp, a large, prosperous and relatively
advanced farming village had occupied this site.
According to Hennesey (1969), a strong earthquake
caused the abrupt abandonment of the town around
3600 years bp.
Actually, a complex fault system displaces the
entire historical stratigraphic sequence of this area
(Fig. 9). The calcolithic ash and camp-¯oor deposits
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
Fig. 9. Faulting of Calcolithic ash and camp-¯oor deposits in Teleilat Ghassul. Arrows indicate two faults which bound a small
graben-like feature.
(3600 bp) are affected by subvertical reverse faults
with tens of centimetres of vertical throw (N508E),
E±W unde®ned faults and NNW±SSE subvertical
reverse faults. Moreover, on a photo published by
Hennessey (1969) (Plate III; outcrop no longer visible
today), a normal fault of inde®nable strike displaces
the entire historical sequence of ,0.5 m. Finally, in
the Wadi bordering, the archaeological mound to the
south, a NE±SW fault has thrusted ¯uvial gravels
over the Lisan Formation marls (72±18 ky bp according to Kaufmann et al., 1992; Fig. 10).
The area of the tell is close to a NE±SW fault-scarp
system which runs along the southeastern edge of the
Jordan Valley. Roughly NNW±SSE lineaments,
299
showing a possible right lateral slip across some
streams entrenched in the upper surface of the Lisan
Formation, were also detected by means of aerialphoto and satellite-image interpretation. One of these
features crosses the area of the Ghassul excavations.
The hypothesis of Hennessey (1969) seems to be
now supported by geological data con®rming that
surface faulting affected the settlement in the past,
causing extensive damage and probably contributing
to the abandonment of the Calcolithic settlement of
Ghassul.
3.2. Deir Alla (Jordan)
Other sur®cial displacements affecting historical
strata have been found on the top of Tell Deir Alla
(Fig. 3), at the mouth of the Zarqa. The tell emerges
from the alluvial plain ,4 km east of the Jordan
Valley Fault, and was used almost continuously
throughout the period ,3600±2400 bp. It is considered to be one of the possible sites of the biblical
town of Succoth (Khouri, 1988).
The displacements are visible in the central part of
the hill and affect only the lower part of the historical
strata (probably dating back to the Late Bronze Age;
Fig. 11), and are sealed by other historical deposits at
the top. According to some authors (see Khouri,
Fig. 10. Fault scarp affecting the erosional surface carved on the Lisan Marl Formation, near Ghassul. The arrows indicate the trace of the NE±
SW fault. Dr Sunna (right below) kindly provides the scale of the picture.
300
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
Fig. 11. Top of Deir Alla hill. Faulting of historical deposits at the
top of the Tell (the coin gives the scale of the outcrop).
1988), the site was seriously damaged by an earthquake around 3200 bp, and suffered another
catastrophic destruction later.
As for these and many other sites in Jordan, we
hope that a future collaboration between archaeologists and earthquake geologists will provide information to understand the chronology and the nature of
these events in a more appropriate way.
3.3. Jacob Ford area (Meitzat Ateret)
The Jordan River, from the Hula depression southwards to Lake Tiberias, runs in a straight narrow
gorge along the AJF line. Inside this gorge, the fault
has pushed up a small-elongated hill in a right bend,
thereby forming an asymmetrical anticline with a
steep eastern limb. Recent archaeological excavations
have rediscovered the ruins of a castle on the hilltop
(,160 m long and 55 m wide) which was built in
1178 by King Baldwin IV near Jacob's Ford and
destroyed in 1179 by Saladin (Runciman, 1954).
According to Ellenblum et al. (1998), an Arabic settlement grew on the site (Mosque of 12th century), being
occupied during the Ottoman period (1517±1917),
subsequently abandoned and covered by debris. This
site was studied by Marco et al. (1997) and Ellenblum
et al. (1998) who highlighted the tectonic features of
this amazing site, and it has also been reported in Galli
(1997, 1999).
On the southern and northern wall of the castle, the
masonry shows a sinistral horizontal deformation of at
Fig. 12. View of the southern wall of the Crusaider castle of Meitzad
Ateret (namely the chatelet). Due to the AJF movement, its powerful wall shows a sinistral offset of 2.2 m between the threshold area
(above) and the southeastern corner (below).
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
least 2 m (Fig. 12). The gaps created among the
shifted blocks are empty or partly ®lled with basalt
stones originating from the wall ®lling and from
the overlaying poor masonry of the Turkish settlement. According to Ellenblum et al. (1988), the
displacement is distributed over about 10 m and this,
in our opinion, could explain why on the northern side
of the castle the corner of the Ottoman Mosque is
displaced only for 0.5 m (according to Marco et
al., 1997, the displacement is instead of 0.2±0.3 m
and affects the walls originating from the Arabic
period).
This latter evidence suggests that the deformation
might be related to a relatively recent earthquake, like
that of January 1, 1837, whose magnitude has been
recently reevaluated by Ambraseys (1997); (M $ 7)
and for which ground rupture and a `tsunami' wave
were reported in the neighbouring Tiberias lake (i.e.
Amiran et al., 1994). Ambraseys (1997) also reports
some information about the ground deformation that
occurred between Tiberias and Safed (located few
kilometres west to the castle) and a large rupture
near Banyas (located on the AJF, about 30 km north
to the castle). Vered and Striem (1976) placed the
epicentre of this earthquake along the AJF, eastward
of Safed (that is near the castle).
Marco et al. (1997) and Ellesblum et al. (1998)
alternatively suggests that the castle was displaced
®rst time by the 1202 event (M $ 7:5; according to
Ambraseys and Melville (1988)), and then again by
the October 30 and November 25, 1759, events
(Ms ˆ 6:6 and 7.4, respectively) and/or by the 1837
event. In this case, the 2 m offset of the castle would
represent the cumulative slips of two or three earthquakes with M . 7. But if we consider the clear
surface slip produced by earthquakes whose magnitude may be comparable to that of events dated 1202,
1759 and 1837 (e.g. the 1999 strike-slip Izmit earthquake with 3 m slip and a maximum so far of 4.9;
USGS, 1999; see also Wells and Coppersmith,
1994), we could conclude that the castle offset
would better account for only one M . 7 event.
Moreover, according to Ambraseys and Melville
(1988), the 1759 sequence and the 1202 event struck
exactly the same region, although the cumulative
epicentral region of the former is somewhat smaller.
For the main shock, these authors report 95 km of long
fault-break in the west side of Bekaa valley, situated
301
at a distance of 50 up to 150 km north of the castle,
probably along the Yammuneh Fault, and not along
the Tiberias-Hula segment of the AJF.
4. The Phestos Fault (Crete)
The Minoan town of Phestos lies on the top of a hill
in the Messara valley (southern Crete Fig. 13). The
hill, built up by tiny layered marls and calcarenites
(Messinian), is surrounded by Quaternary alluvial
deposits and, according to Bonneau et al. (1984), it
is bounded by ENE±WSW faults which partly act as
the limit between the two formations.
The Messara valley is a graben dominating the
central-southern Crete region. The graben is bounded
by the Ida mountain to the north and the Asteroussia
range to the south, along two E±W trending fault
zones (Fig. 13B). The seismotectonics of the region
is rather complex and is related to the subduction of
the African plate under the northward extending
Aegean lithosphere (Fig. 13A).
As for the seismic activity of the Messara graben,
Delibasis et al. (1999) recorded two seismic clusters,
trending NE±SW and N±S, located in the northwestern and central part of the basin and limited to
depths shallower than 20 km. According to these
authors, the seismicity is related to the Messara
tectonic features described by Angelier (1979),
while the fault plane solutions indicate both normal
and reverse motion with episodically signi®cant
horizontal slip component.
Excavations made during the sixties by the Italian
Archaeological School of Athens (SAIA) discovered
one of the districts of the Minoan town of Phestos
(southern Crete), called Chalara (Levi, 1962). Phestos
had been inhabited since the calcholithic age (4500±
3300 bc) until its destruction caused by the Gortynian
(2nd century bc); then, it was partly reoccupied during
the Roman period. Current archaeoseismological
analyses promoted by Prof. E. La Rosa (SAIA is
responsible for the Phestos excavations) allowed us
to recognise several indication of destructive seismic
events during the Minoan age at Phestos and in the
surrounding sites (at least three events during 2000±
1500 bc and some others before 1200 bc), while many
authors assume the occurrence of other strong earthquakes after 1200 bc in southern Crete (i.e. Gortyn: Di
302
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
Fig. 14. View of the Ellenistic district in Chalara. The walls of these
rooms are affected by faulting, with both vertical and horizontal
offset (see Fig. 15).
Vita, 1996; Kommos: Shaw, pers. comm.). These
earthquakes might partly be related to the 10 abrupt
subsidence movements of the southwestern Crete
shoreline, interpreted as coseismic by Pirazzoli et al.
(1996) and preceding the strong 365 ad Crete earthquake. The latter, one of the most famous Mediterranean earthquakes of the antiquity, is characterised by
a 9 m shoreline uplift in southwestern Crete (Pirazzoli
et al., 1996; see Fig. 13B) and extensive damage in the
whole island.
Among the archaeoseismological pieces of
evidence existing at Phestos, the most conclusive
and spectacular is the faulting of an entire sector of
303
the district of Chalara, comprising several rooms and
walls. Although the studies on behalf of the SAIA are
currently in progress, we anticipate some preliminary
results of our ®eld survey carried out during the
summer of 1999.
The excavated portion of the district of Chalara is a
100 m long and 25 m wide narrow area elongated
NNE±SSW at the southeastern foothill of Phestos
(Fig. 13C). The traces of faulting are evident within
the central part of the district and affect Hellenistic
rooms (age deduced by Levi, 1962). The fault trace
crosses the whole width of the excavated area and also
involves some retaining walls dating back to the
Minoan age. These walls outcrop above Chalara,
along the slope of the Phestos hill. The fault trace
strikes N120 and displaces the walls of the houses
both vertically and horizontally with a sinistral
component of movement (Figs. 14 and 15). The minimum horizontal offset measured on the Hellenistic
rooms (rooms q 0 and c 0 of Levi, 1962) is 23 cm,
while the minimum vertical offset is 53 cm, i.e.
58 cm of total (minimum) slip. The horizontal
displacement of the Minoan retaining walls is instead
larger, and it could measure roughly 2±3 m. We found
some other sur®cial traces of the fault at the southern
edge of the rock escarpment bordering the southeastern side of the Phestos hill, where many N110±120
subvertical shear planes affect the Cenozoic bedrock
(layered calcarenite and siltstones, locally known as
kouskouras; a in Fig. 13). Along the strike of the fault,
the Cenozoic bedrock of the southwestern block of the
hill is abruptly lowered and does not outcrop in the
hanging wall side of the fault, where a retread and
reworked fault scarp is partly still visible on aerial
photos (Fig. 13D). Further ®eld evidences of the
fault have been found below the acropolis of
Phestos, where weathered relics of a N110 fault
scarp outcrop.
As for the age of the Chalara faulting, on the basis
of the Levi's (1962) argumentations, the event
Fig. 13. (A) Map of the Aegean area showing the position of Crete with respect to the subducting African plate. NAF represents the traces of the
North Anatolian Fault. Arrows indicate the direction of motion of the plates (with relative values). The hypothetical location of the 365 ad
earthquake is also shown. (B) Map of Crete showing the location of the Messara Graben and of the ancient town of Phestos. The graben is
bounded by two E±W normal faults (black lines). Dashed lines represent the uplift (meters) of southwestern Crete due to the 365 ad earthquake
(from Pirazzoli et al., 1996). (C) Map of the area of the Minoan town of Phestos. Evidence of faulting of archaeological relics is found in the
district of Chalara. (D) Oblique aerial photo of Phestos taken during the Italian excavation of the sixties; black arrows indicate the fault scarp
affecting the southwestern side of the hill.
304
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
retaining wall of probably Minoan age, allows
one to hypothesise a periodical reactivation of
the fault during the prehistorical period, possibly
related to the seismic events that repeatedly struck
the Minoan settlements.
5. The Fucino Fault (central Italy)
Fig. 15. View of the Ellenistic district in Chalara. Horizontal offset
displayed by one of the walls of room c 0 (see text).
occurred after the 150 bc and before the Late Roman
period (although we are still waiting for the data to be
collected and discussed with the archaeologists in
future ®eld surveys).
In particular, the last building phase of Chalara,
overlapped and rotated in comparison to the
Hellenistic buildings, is dated within the 4th century
ad and it always lies on a thick stratum of ruins of the
previous phase. This radical reconstruction of the site
could be related to its previous destruction, thus
bounding one of the possible ages of the faulting
within the 4th century ad and hypothetically to the
365 ad earthquake.
According to this hypothesis, the faulting of
Chalara might be due to the activity of a secondary fault in the Messara graben, related to the
large crustal deformation induced by the 365 ad
event. Finally, the larger offset, affecting the
The Fucino Plain, one of the major intermontane
basins of the central Apennines, is ®lled by more than
1000 m of lacustrine and ¯uvial Plio-Quaternary
deposits and surrounded by mountains (average
2000 m) made of Meso-Caenozoic carbonate formations. Until the end of the 19th century, it was the
largest lake of the peninsular Italy. Data from re¯ection seismic surveys show the present half-graben
structure with ®lling sediments, which pinch out
along the western border of the basin and the listric
geometry (typical of growth faults) of the eastern
master faults (Marsicana Highway Fault and S.
Benedetto Gioia dei Marsi Fault; out from the right
border of Fig. 16). The basin is also affected by
secondary faults, the most important of which are
the Trasacco and the Luco dei Marsi faults (Fig.
16). The Fucino region was struck in 1915 by a
destructive earthquake (Ms ˆ 7, more than 30 000
casualties), for which Galadini and Galli (1999a)
hypothesised an average recurrence time of 1900
years during the Holocene.
The attempts to drain Lake Fucino have been a
leitmotiv of the last two millennia, beginning with
the partial drainage of the lake by the ancient Romans
(1st±2nd century ad.). They constructed an
impressive hydraulic system, consisting of a
5 km long tunnel excavated in Mt Salviano and
open channels in the Plain (Figs. 16 and 17),
whose operation ended during the decadence of
the Empire (5th±6th century ad). Data related to
the last two millennia show that the lake level has
increased signi®cantly only since the 14th century,
culminating in peak levels during the 19th century
when the lake was ®nally drained for agricultural
purposes (1862±1875).
The case of Fucino regards the faulting of the
Roman drainage canal. The canal (large up to 20 m
and deep more than 8 m near the tunnel gate) was built
under emperor Claudius and, probably, upgrading
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
305
Fig. 16. Map of the western portion of the Fucino basin (below) and cross-section along the Roman drainage canal (top). The canal is affected
by the Trasacco Fault in its eastern part (see Figs. 17 and 18).
proceeded until Emperor Antoninus Pius (2nd century
ad). Even if we do not have historical data about the
end of the operation of the canal (we just suppose
it happened during the decadence of the Roman
Empire), geological data (Galadini and Galli,
2001) seem to point out that the high standing
lake level, subsequent to the loss of operation of
the hydraulic works, goes back to the 5th±6th
century ad.
Although the drainage canal is now completely
®lled by more recent lacustrine deposits, its faint
trace is still visible on aerial photographs, and Giraudi
(1988) observed that the canal crosses the Trasacco
fault. Excavations made at this intersection showed
that the canal and its ®lling deposits are displaced
by the fault (Fig. 18). Lacustrine sediments affected
by the faulting (unit C in Fig. 18) were deposited
during the earliest lacustrine phase subsequent to the
end of operation of the Roman hydraulic works
(Galadini and Galli, 1996). Displacements are sealed
by the latest lacustrine sediments (unit E in Fig. 18)
which deposited just before the ®nal drainage of
the lake occurred in the 19th century (Galadini
and Galli, 1996) and therefore are the result of
an earthquake preceding that of 1915 and subsequent, at least, to the 1st±2nd century ad (age of
the Roman hydraulic works in the Fucino basin).
Due to isotope fractionation phenomena, radiocarbon dating of the displaced sediments did not
permit to determine exactly the chronological
interval in which the seismic event occurred
(Galadini and Galli, 1996).
306
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
Taking account of the fact that the age of the event
responsible for the displacement of the Roman canal
is close to the age of the lake water ingression into
sites located along the `natural' shoreline (high
standing level), we can hypothesise that the event
occurred about the 5th±6th century ad. More precisely, we proposed (Galadini and Galli, 1996,
2001) that the earthquake responsible for the faulting
of the canal was that recorded by several memorial
stones put in the Coliseum of Rome (which is 90 km
far away from the Fucino), recalling signi®cant
restorations to the monument after a frightful
earthquake. According to the epigraphs, the
restorations were supported by Decius Marius
Venantius Basilius (consul in 508 ad). This event
can thus be considered as the twin event of 1915,
M ˆ 7 earthquake.
6. The Adige Valley Fault (northern Italy)
Fig. 17. View of the transversal trench excavated across the Roman
canal, where it is crossed by the Trasacco normal fault. The sur®cial
trace of the canal is marked by a different colour of the soil on aerial
photos.
The Adige River, before reaching the Po Plain,
¯ows in a deep NNE±SSW valley for tens of kilometres between Bolzano and Verona (Fig. 19). The
bottom of the valley is ®lled by hundreds of metres of
alluvial deposits and is surrounded by high carbonate
and volcanic mountains. Particularly, Mesozoic
limestones characterised by NNE±SSW thrusts and
transpressive structures build up the western sector
Fig. 18. Sketch of the trench excavated longitudinally to the canal across the Trasacco Fault. The fault is expressed by several shear planes (bold
solid lines) that displace the sur®cial deposits (including the post-Roman ®lling of the canal) with a domino effect.
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
Fig. 19. Seismotectonic sketch of the Adige River region. Historical
seismicity is modi®ed after Camassi and Stucchi (1997). The two
paleoseismic sites in the southern part of the region are reported in
Galadini et al. (2001).
(Giudicarie trend; Doglioni and Bosellini, 1987),
while the eastern sector consist of the quasi-tabular
`Piattaforma por®rica Atesina' (Permian volcanic
rocks) outcrops. As a result of the recent glacial
history, there are few remains of preglacial Quaternary deposits and landforms. The lack of signi®cant
Quaternary outcrops makes it very dif®cult to de®ne
a reliable framework of Quaternary and active
tectonics.
As for the seismicity, we can consider this area
silent during all the historical period with the
307
exception of the Garda Lake area, which is characterised by moderate seismicity (Galadini et al., 2001)
and of the piedmont area (see problem concerning the
1117 event: Galadini and Galli, 2001).
The archaeoseismological case we are dealing with
is located in the village of Egna (Neumarkt, Alto
Adige). On the distal part of a large, ¯at Holocene
alluvial fan, in the eighties, archaeologists discovered
a 30 £ 25 m Roman building, belonging to the type of
villa rustica which was widespread in the region. The
building has a central courtyard around which several
rooms are aligned on the northern, western and
southern sides. On the eastern side, eight pillar bases
have been interpreted as the support of a portico. All
the walls are 45 cm thick and rest on a 70±90 cm thick
and 80±90 deep foundation. The materials are mainly
constituted by rounded pebbles and stones of local
lithology (sandstones, porphyries, porphyrites; size
20±40 cm) linked by lime mortar. The considerable
dimension of the foundations allow one to hypothesise
that the structure was build up on two stores, with a
displuvium toward the exterior.
The wall and the foundations of the villa, apart from
the eastern ones, are affected by fractures and displacement (Fig. 20a). Moreover, the mortar ¯oor of
the courtyard presented a net scarp of about 50 cm
between the northern and the southern walls. A
minor scarp was observable in the NW corner of the
courtyard, aligned with other fractures in the wall.
The northern wall of the courtyard is cut by four
NNE±SSW fault planes that, in the whole, drag horizontally the western portion for 33 cm northwards
(that is in the opposite direction in comparison with
the Adige River ¯ow). This wall is also vertically
displaced, presenting a gently U-shaped deformation
from east to west. The horizontal motion, well evident
also in the western wall (displaced and clockwise
rotated), strongly reduces on the southern wall,
where few centimetres of slip are still detectable.
Considering that the villa was originally built up on
a perfect horizontal plane (as usual for the Romans),
its SE corner (the farthest from the eastern fault) is at
an elevation of 73 cm higher than the western wall and
of 90 cm in comparison with the area of maximum
lowering between the eastern and western faults.
The eastern fault cuts both the northern and
southern walls and, probably, also the surrounding
wall of the villa (not exposed). The western faults
308
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
Fig. 20. (a) Map of the Roman house of Egna displaced by the NNE±SSW strike-slip fault. (b) Hypothetical reconstruction of the ruins of the
house immediately after the earthquakes that destroyed the site in the 3rd century ad. The log of trench 6 show the offset of the foundation
deposits, which had been affected by a previous event about 2581±2197 bc.
cut the northern and western walls and could be in en
echelon relation with the former.
In order to characterise more precisely the sur®cial
deformation, during 1996, we performed seven paleoseismological trenches within the archaeological site,
with a depth ranging between 2 and 6 m (Galadini and
Galli, 1999b). Trench analyses showed that the sur®cial deformations of the masonry were probably
produced by faulting that occurred during the life of
the villa (a previous event was inferred from trench 6
to have occurred about 2581±2197 bc; Figs. 20b
and 21).
The ®ndings and the radiocarbon datings coming
from the villa and the stratigraphical reconstruction
of the area allow us to date the construction of the
building in the half of the 1st century ad, while its
life period proceeded after 153 ad (coin of Antoninus
Pius, 25th tribunicia potestas) until its abandonment
occurred in the ®rst half of the 3rd century ad. This
date is con®rmed also by the data coming from the
nearby necropolis, whose latest tomb goes back to the
®rst half of the 3rd century ad.
After the disruption of the villa, the stonework, the
roof and the timber has been systematically removed
and the whole structure has been reduced to the top of
the foundation (part of the southern structure also
missed the upper level of the foundation) or, in the
area lowered by the fault, to the base of the wall. The
successive cleaning phase (®ndings dated between
the second half of the 3rd century and 320±430 ad),
as suggested by the presence of an alluvial sand level
on the mortar ¯oor, occurred some decades or a
century after the destruction of the villa.
In our opinion, the displacement of the Roman villa
and the underlying deposits may be explained by the
occurrence of an unknown 3rd century earthquake,
strong enough to induce surface faulting. This earthquake could be connected to the activity of the
Giudicarie fault system.
A review of the scienti®c literature concerning
archaeological sites in the region (in Galadini and
Galli, 1999b; see archaeological sites of Fig. 19)
highlights the existence of phases of destruction/
reconstruction roughly concentrated around the
second half of the third period. This fact allows us
to hypothesise that the Egna case can re¯ect a regional
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
309
Fig. 21. View of the trenches excavated in the northern sector of the Egna villa. Arrows indicate the trace of the faults affecting the Holocene
deposits and the walls of the villa. Dashed line represents the top of the displaced foundation of the northern wall. In this amazing place, the
town council of Egna-Neumarkt has now built a three-storeyed house.
event of destruction induced by a strong earthquake in
an area currently considered aseismic.
7. Conclusions
One of the main problems that scientists involved
in archaeoseismic studies usually face is the distinction of dynamic damage from static damage, and to
some extent, also from man-induced damage. Often,
archaeologists use the presumed archaeoseismic
data mainly in terms of a simple explanation of
abrupt changes in history of the site, or for the
explanation of features of ancient damage ranging
from disruption levels to more speci®c signs of
displacement, tilting and collapse. Moreover, they
sometimes use the seismic disaster on a local scale
without considering the actual areal effects of a
strong earthquake. On the other hand, while sometimes archaeologists, who face ®eld evidence of
damage, use the generic occurrence of earthquakes
in a region to justify the attribution of damage to
seismicity, the geologists use this archaeological
interpretation as a ®rm evidence of ongoing seismotectonic activity in the region itself, creating a sort
of vicious circle among respective ®eld data and
interpretation (see Karcz and Kafri, 1978).
Instead, different from archaeoseismic data related
only to `damage and collapse', and similar to paleoseismology, the speci®c study of the faulting of
archaeological relics allows one to discover previously unknown earthquakes, giving a realistic
value of their magnitude and a rough evaluation of
the recurrence time (on the basis of the offset and
dating of the displaced structures). Moreover, this
speci®c archaeoseismic analyses allow the relocation
and reevaluation of poorly known earthquakes,
providing an excellent epicentral location. In
some circumstances, the ®nding of faulted ruins
not only demonstrates that known tectonic structures are active, but enables the identi®cation of
new ones.
From a general point of view, the faulting of a stiff
rectilinear structure allows one to evaluate precisely
the amount of vertical and especially, horizontal
offset. This fact enhance the importance of the archaeoseismic data since in natural outcrops, offsets (and
especially the horizontal ones) are usually dif®cult
to evaluate precisely, even by means of geomorphic
and paleoseismological analyses (i.e. trenches).
310
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
Moreover, the observation of the deformation
induced on the architectural relicts enables us to
evaluate the possible behaviour of modern stiff
structures if affected by surface faulting, thus providing an useful contribution to vulnerability studies (i.e.
back-®tting or vulnerability reduction of existing
structures). In particular, we observed that the masonry
structures crossed with a high angle of incidence (i.e.
sub-parallely) by strike-slip faults arrange the movement either by rotating entire blocks of the wall clockwise or counterclockwise (for dextral and sinistral slip,
respectively), or refracting locally the fracture perpendicularly to the long axis of the structure. The quasiductile behaviour of some walls affected by horizontal
slip (e.g. the Chalara and Jacob Ford cases) in comparison with the brittle and abrupt fracture of the other cases
could instead re¯ect a different value of the rupture
velocity of the fault at the surface. We could tentatively
hypothesise that this behaviour is indicative of low
velocity rupture (i.e. CEB, 1988).
As far as the case histories reported in this paper we
can resume that:
(1) The surface faulting cases along the AJF con®rm
the occurrence of strong earthquakes in the past, whose
epicentre can now be located in the Dead Sea Rift
Valley and in the Jordan Valley. This is particularly
important for a region, the Wadi Araba, which is seismically silent (and apparently aseismic) since many
centuries ago. These earthquakes are partly identi®ed
with the known historical and prehistorical events,
whose location can now be shifted along the different
strands of the AJF and whose age, magnitude and kinematics are now supported by ®eld data.
(2) The faulting at the Phestos site identi®es a new,
although secondary, active tectonic structure. Its kinematics highlights a component of the active stress of
the region. If con®rmed by the study in progress, the
dating at the 4th century ad will allow one to bound
de®nitely the location of the famous 365 ad earthquake in the SW part of Crete.
(3) The Fucino case permits the relocation of a
poorly known earthquake, whose unique effect was
previously reported in Rome (about 90 km away
from Fucino). The discussion of this case constrains
precisely the time interval between events characterised by M ˆ 7 in the Fucino region (about 1400
years between the Late Roman and the last one,
occurred in 1915). Moreover, the damage attribution
in the Coliseum to an Apennine earthquake yields
important implications about the seismic hazard of
Rome, which is generally characterised by a low
local seismicity.
(4) The discovery of a strong, unknown earthquake
in the Adige Valley (a region which is presently
considered aseismic) represents an important contribution to the evaluation of the active stress and of the
seismic hazard in that region. Moreover, the record in
an old seismic compilation (Della Corte, 1594) of an
earthquake that would have struck this region in the
245 ad (the same period for the Egna faulting
evidence), should now be reconsidered.
Finally, this review of case histories of faulting of
archaeological relics in regions so different and far
from the other (from the geodynamic, kinematics,
seismic and historical point of view) highlights the
powerful capacity of the archaeoseismic tool in evaluating and characterising the seismogenetic processes, and
suggest that archaeoseismology should, in future, be
considered as something more signi®cant than a `nice
addendum in tectonic studies'.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Prof. E. La Rosa who introduced
us to the Phestos site and to Dr N. Cucuzza who
supported our data researches in Crete. We also
thank Prof. D. Whitcomb for the discussion on
Ayla, B. Sunna and A. Israeli for their logistic support
in Jordan and Israel and J. Karcz for the discussion on
the role and capacity of archaeoseismology. C.
Giraudi participated to the trenches in the Fucino
basin. We think that the comments by F. Cinti and
N. Abou Karaki strongly improved the quality of
this paper. We are also grateful to Prof. W. Friedemann and to Dr T. Horscroft for their suggestions and
encouragement. The criticisms of an anonymous
referee revealed to us the level of understanding of
archaeoseismology in parts of the present scienti®c
community. Thanks to E. Giusta for her help in
improving the language of the manuscript.
References
Abou Karaki, N., 1987. SyntheÁse et carte sismotectonique des payes
de la bordure orientale de la MeÂditerraneÂe: sismicite du systeÁme
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
de failles du Jourdain-Mer Morte. PhD Thesis. Inst. De Phys. du
Globe de Strasbourg, Univ. of Strasbourg I, France.
Ambraseys, N.N., 1997. The earthquake of 1 January 1837 in Southern Lebanon and Northern Israel. Ann. Geo®s. 40, 923±936.
Ambraseys, N.N., Melville, C., 1988. Analysis of the eastern Mediterranean earthquake of 20 May 1202. In: Lee, W., Meyers, H.,
Shimazaki, K. (Eds.), Historical Seismograms and Earthquakes
of the World. Academic, San Diego, pp. 181±200.
Ambraseys, N.N., Melville, C., Adams, R., 1994. The Seismicity of
Egypt, Arabia and the Red Sea. Cambridge University Press,
New York.
Amiran, D., Arieh, E., Turcotte, T., 1994. Earthquakes in Israel and
adjacent areas: macroseismic observations since 100 B.C.E. Isr.
Explor. J. 44, 261±305.
Angelier, J., 1979. NeÂotectonique de l'arc EgeÂen. Soc. GeÂol. Nord
Spec. Publ. 3, 418 pp.
Bonneau, M., Jonkera, H.A., Meulenkamp, J.E., 1984. Timbakion
sheet, Geological map of Greece. Institute of Geology and
Mineral Exploration (scale 1:50,000).
Camassi, R., Stucchi, M., 1997. NT4.1.1 Un catalogo parametrico di
terremoti di area italiana al di sopra della soglia del danno.
GNDT, Milano, p. 95 (http://emidius.itim.mi.cnr.it).
CEB, 1988. Concrete structure under impact and impulsive loading.
Bull. Inform. 187.
Delibasis, N., Ziazia, M., Voulgaris, N., Papadopulos, T., Stavrakakis, G., Papanastassiou, D., Drakatos, G., 1999. Microseismic
activity and seismotectonics of Heraklion Area (central Crete
Island, Greece). Tectonophysics 308, 237±248.
Della Corte, G., 1594. L'istoria di Verona. Verona.
Di Vita, A., 1996. Earthquakes and civil life at Gortyn (Crete) in the
period between Justinian and Costant II (6±7th century AD). In:
Stiros, S., Jones, R.E. (Eds.), Archaeoseismology. British
School at Athens, Fitch Laboratory Occasional Paper 7, 45±50.
Doglioni, C., Bosellini, A., 1987. Eoalpine and Mesoalpine
tectonics in the Southern Alps. Geol. Rund. 76, 735±754.
Ellenbumm, R., Marco, S., Angon, A., Rockwell, T., Boas, A.,
1998. Crusader castle torn apart by earthquake at dawn, 20
May 1202. Geology 26, 303±306.
Galadini, F., Galli, P., 1996. Paleoseismology related to deformed
archaeological remains in the Fucino Plain. Implications for
subrecent seismicity in Central Italy. Ann. Geo®s. 39, 925±
940.
Galadini, F., Galli, P., 1999a. The Holocene paleoearthquakes on
the 1915 Avezzano earthquake faults (central Italy): implications for active tectonics in Central Apennines. Tectonophysics
308, 143±170.
Galadini, F., Galli, P., 1999b. Paleoseismology related to the
displaced Roman archaeological remains at Egna (Adige
Valley, northern Italy). Tectonophysics 308, 171±191.
Galadini, F., Galli, P., 2001. Archaeoseismology in Italy: case
studies and implication on long-term seismicity. J. Earthq.
Engng 5, 35±68.
Galadini, F., Galli, P., Cittadini, A., Giaccio, B., 2001. Paleoseismological investigation in the Mt. Baldo-Lessini Mts. Sector of
the Southalpine area (northern Italy). Geologie en Mijnbouw 80,
in press.
Galli, P., 1997. Archaeoseismological evidence of historical activity
311
of the Wadi Araba-Jordan Valley transform fault, Il Quaternario. Ital. J. Quat. Sci. 10, 401±406.
Galli, P., 1999. Active tectonics along the Wadi Araba-Jordan
Valley transform fault. J. Geophys. Res. 104, 2777±2796.
Galli, P., Galadini, F., 1999. Seismotectonic framework of the
1997±98 Umbria-Marche (Central Italy) earthquakes. Seismol.
Res. Lett. 70, 404±414.
Giraudi, C., 1988. Evoluzione geologica della Piana del Fucino
(Abruzzo) negli ultimi 30.000 anni, Il Quaternario. Ital. J.
Quat. Sci. 1, 131±159.
Hammond, P., 1980. New evidence for the 4th-century A.D.
destruction of Petra. Bull. Am. Sch. Orient. Res. 238, 65±67.
Hancock, P.L., Altunel, E., 1997. Faulted archaeological relics at
Hierapolis (Pamukkale), Turkey. J. Geodyn. 24, 21±36.
Hennessy, J.B., 1969. Preliminary report on a ®rst season of excavations at Teleilat Ghassul. Levant I, 1±24.
Karcz, I., Kafri, U., 1978. Evaluation of supposed archaeoseismic
damage in Israel. J. Archaeol. Sci. 5, 237±253.
Kaufmann, A., Yechieli, Y., Gardosh, M., 1992. Re-evaluation of
the lake-sediment chronology in the Dead Sea basin, Israel,
based on new 230Th/ 234U dates. Quat. Res. 38, 292±304.
Khouri, R., 1988. The antiquities of the Jordan rift valley, Al Kutba,
Amman.
Klinger, Y., 1999. Seismotectonique de la faille du levant. PhD
Thesis. Universite Strasbourg I.
Levi, D., 1962. Gli scavi a Festos nel 1958±60. Annuario della
Scuola Archeologica Atene delle Missioni Italiane Oriente
39±40, 377±504.
Marco, S., Agnon, A., Ellenblum, R., Eidelman, A., Basson, U.,
Boas, A., 1997. 817-year-old walls offset sinistrally 2.1 m by
the Dead sea transform, Israel. J. Geodyn. 24, 11±20.
Pirazzoli, P.A., Laborel, J., Stiros, S.C., 1996. Earthquake clustering
in the eastern Mediterranean during historical times. J. Geophys.
Res. 101, 6083±6097.
Roberts, G.P., Koukouvelas, I., 1996. Structural and seismological
segmentation of the Gulf of Corinth fault system: implications
for models of fault growth. Ann. Geo®s. 39, 619±646.
Runciman, S., 1954. A History of the Crusades. Cambridge University Press, New York.
Russel, K., 1980. The earthquake of May 19, A.D. 363. Bull. Am.
Sch. Orient. Res. 238, 47±64.
Stein, R., Barka, A., Dieterich, J., 1997. Progressive failure on the
North Anatolian fault since 1939 by earthquake stress triggering. Geophys. J. Int. 128, 594±604.
Stiros, S.C., 1996. Identi®cation of earthquakes from archaeological
data. In: Stiros, S., Jones, R.E. (Eds.), Archaeoseismology. British School at Athens, Fitch Laboratory Occasional Paper, 7, pp.
119±152.
Toksoz, M.N., Reilinger, E.E., Doll, C.G., Barka, A.A., Yalcin, N.,
1999. Izmit (Turkey) earthquake of 17 August 1999: ®rst report.
Seismol. Res. Lett. 70, 669±679.
Trifonov, V.G., 1978. Late Quaternary tectonic movements of western
and central Asia. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 89, 1059±1072.
USGS, 1999. Scienti®c expedition to Turkey. Field Investigations of
the 1999 Izmit Earthquake Report of August 25, 1999. URLInternet: http://quake.wr.usgs.gov/study/turkey/aug25report.
html.
312
P. Galli, F. Galadini / Tectonophysics 335 (2001) 291±312
Vered, M., Striem, H., 1977. A macroseismic study and the implication of structural damage of two recent earthquakes in the
Jordan rift. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 67, 1607±1613.
Wells, D., Coppersmith, K., 1994. New empirical relationships among
magnitude, rupture length, rupture width, rupture area and surface
displacement. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 84, 974±1002.
Whitcomb, D., 1994. Water and recent excavations at Aqaba.
Orient. Inst. News Notes 141, 1±5.
Whitcomb, D., 1997. The Aqaba project Annual Report (http://
www-oi.uchicago.edu/OI/AR).
Zang, B., Liao, Y., Guo, S., Wallace, R., Bucknam, R., Hanks, T.,
1986. Fault scarp related to the 1739 earthquake and seismicity
of the Yinchuan graben, Ningxia Huizu Zizhiqu, China. Bull.
Seismol. Soc. Am. 76, 1253±1287.
Zilberman, E., Amit, R., Porat, N., Avner, U., 1998. Relocation
of the epicenter of the 1068 earthquake in the Avrona playa,
Southern Dead Sea Rift, using paleoseismic and archeoseismic
evidences. Abstracts of Proceedings, ESC XXVI General
Assembly, Tel Aviv, Israel.