Taormina, Greek-Roman Theatre

Introduction

Since some decades "Archaeoseismology" defines the investigation of earthquake effects on ancient structures emerging within the monumental heritage since the time of their foundation or uncovered during archaeological excavations. It is clear, therefore, that Archaeoseismology represents a powerful tool to increase our knowledge on the past (ancient) earthquakes. Notwithstanding the great number of publications reporting archaeoseismological data, the general feeling is that much work has to be done to define a reliable methodology of investigation. The methodological aspect represents the main goal of the ESC WG "Archaeoseismology". We also aim at recruiting scholars from other disciplines (e.g., historians, archaeologists, engineers, sociologists) to cooperate in multidisciplinary research, increase the awareness on archaeoseismology in many scientific communities, train young researchers in cooperative studies and to develop and disseminate archaeoseismology as an independent discipline having the same rank of Historical Seismology and Paleoseismology in the enrichment of the long-term seismicity datasets. <Top>