Project description
Medieval techniques of seismic damage reparation
During the Middle Ages, there were techniques used for the reparation of buildings damaged by earthquakes. However, their concrete development within geographical contexts and chronological periods are not yet understood, as written references of intervention in buildings are scarce. The EU-funded PROTECT project will explore the archaeology of construction to document the techniques of seismic damage reparation in the later medieval buildings of the old city centre of Siena that was affected in the past by significant earthquakes. The project will create an atlas of historical seismic activity, document the intervention to buildings and design a protocol for archaeoseismological analysis of medieval town centres.
Objective
Techniques for repairing seismic damages are specific solutions implemented in buildings to combat, mitigate or prevent the earthquake effects. Although this type of technique was used in Ancient periods, probably as forms of empirical experimentation with reference to the formation of particular frequent forms of damage of seismic origin, there is still no understanding of their real spread and development within geographical contexts and chronological periods. Especially for specific historical periods, such as the Middle Ages, this type of elements is frequently found in buildings, but they are rarely referred to in written sources. Thus buildings themselves become the main source from which we may understand the diffusion, and the historical and geographical development, of this kind of construction phenomenon. The aim of the project is the application, in a wholly experimental way, of the methods of archaeology of construction with the aim of documenting the techniques for repairing seismic damage on the later medieval buildings located in a significant sample area affected in the past by important seismic events: a portion of the old city centre of Siena, in Italy. The results obtained from the analysis of Siena will later be compared with those from the research carried out on the town of Manosque. The main resulting goals of the project are: identifying and creating an atlas of the traces of the effects of historical earthquakes and of the ways of intervening in the past on buildings; drawing up a protocol for archaeoseismological analysis of large and small historic town centres, applicable in the future to other national and international contexts. The project presents a methodology based on a highly interdisciplinary approach that envisions the application of methodologies belonging to the human sciences (archaeology of construction and historical seismology) together with scientific disciplines (engineering, architecture, geotecnics and geology).
Fields of science
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinator
75230 Paris
France