Mechanics for archaeological science. A novel methodology for the analysis of ancient masonry constructions

This paper presents a novel methodology for studying ancient constructions that, combined with the most traditional archaeological sciences, improves ones understanding of the effects due to specific seismic events, that are often clearly readable on historic artifacts, in a targeted way. The interpretative methodology of an archaeological artifact, as it is currently used, is improved by an “interpretative tool” that uses customary means of Mechanics. These means are specifically used to discover the relationship between cause and effect which are readable, by observing collapses and damages, on the ruined constructions preserved in archaeological sites. The adopted methodology and the former results obtained by studying some case studies chosen from the archaeological site of Pompeii are presented: the Stabian Baths and the portion of the city wall near the Mercury Tower. The use of this novel methodology has allowed the retracing of the timeline of the events that provoked the damages in ancient times, which are still visible, and to detect the category and magnitude of the causes.