Disruptive earthquakes revealed by faulted archaeological relics in Samnium (Molise, southern Italy).

Archaeoseismic and paleoseismic analyses carried out along the northern slope of the Matese massif (Samnium, southern Apennines) revealed cumulative offsets affecting the walls of the Hercules?s sanctuary of Campochiaro (4th cent. BC-5th cent. AD) and its foundation deposits. On the basis of the archaeological data, a first faulting event (unknown in historical sources and seismic catalogues) occurred during the 3rd cent. BC, followed by other displacements which are consistent with the catastrophic 1456 and 1805 earthquakes. The sanctuary is located close to one of the E-W strands of the northern-Matese fault system (NW-SE trending), to which we relate the observed deformation. Our data suggest that the activity of this fault system is characterized by high slip-rates (0.9 mm/yr) if compared to other known active faults in the Apennines, and irregular return time for earthquakes with M > 6.5.