Preface ........................................................ ix
Part I Defining historical seismology
1 What is historical seismology? ............................... 3
1.1 The interest in historical earthquakes and tsunamis ..... 3
1.2 The historical approach to seismology ................... 6
1.3 Some key ideas in historical seismology ................. 8
2 The importance of historical earthquake and tsunami data .... 11
2.1 The scientific understanding of earthquakes and
tsunamis ............................................... 11
2.2 Earthquake catalogues and their history ................ 26
Part II Issues concerning the interpretation of
historical earthquakes and tsunami data
3 Written historical sources and their use .................... 39
3.1 A definition of historical sources ..................... 39
3.2 Types of written historical sources .................... 41
4 Types of scientific sources: historical interpretations
of earthquakes (an excursus from the ancient world up to
the twentieth century) ..................................... 147
4.1 Theories and treatises of the past .................... 147
4.2 Scientific studies and services ....................... 186
5 Other types of sources ..................................... 195
5.1 Historical earthquake cartography ..................... 195
5.2 Iconographic sources (drawings, frescoes, etc.) ....... 204
5.3 Sources written with light ............................ 206
5.4 Unwritten sources ..................................... 217
6 Potential problems in historical records ................... 221
6.1 Problems inherent in the historical sources ........... 221
6.2 Problems inherent in the use of historical sources .... 228
6.3 False and lost earthquakes ............................ 247
7 Determination of historical earthquakes: dates and times ... 263
7.1 The need for a common time base for earthquake
catalogues ............................................ 263
7.2 Dating styles and practice in ancient Mediterranean
cultures .............................................. 265
7.3 Years, months and days ................................ 265
7.4 The measurement of the hours from the ancient world
to the modern era ..................................... 284
7.5 Earthquake duration ................................... 294
Part III Practical guidelines for the analysis
of historical earthquake data
8 Planning the goals of analysis of historical earthquake
data ....................................................... 299
8.1 Reviewing existing earthquake and tsunami
catalogues ............................................ 299
8.2 The search for fresh historical data .................. 302
8.3 Different research strategies for large and small
earthquakes ........................................... 304
8.4 Seismic crises, sequences and multiple earthquakes:
picking them out from among the sources ............... 314
8.5 Foreshocks and aftershocks: why targeted research is
useful ................................................ 320
8.6 Epicentres at sea or on land? ......................... 322
8.7 The completeness of an earthquake catalogue: some
general considerations from the historical point of
view .................................................. 325
9 Processing historical records .............................. 329
9.1 The validation of historical data ..................... 329
9.2 Classifying a list of references ...................... 332
10 From interpretation of historical records to historical
seismic scenarios .......................................... 336
10.1 Constructing seismic scenarios: a painstaking
montage of different elements ......................... 336
10.2 Terminology and modes of expression ................... 337
10.3 Place-names, administrative boundaries, frontiers
and their changes ..................................... 341
10.4 Territorial factors in seismic scenarios .............. 345
10.5 Human impact .......................................... 352
10.6 The effects of earthquakes on construction
practices ............................................. 366
10.7 Effects in towns: constructing an urban seismic
scenario of the past .................................. 378
10.8 Effects on the natural environment .................... 380
10.9 Identifying faulting and liquefaction features in
historical accounts ................................... 394
10.10 Tsunamis: loss of data and descriptive uniformity .... 401
10.11 Earthquake effects on a regional scale: outlining
a complex seismic scenario ........................... 413
11 Traces of earthquakes in archaeological sites and in
monuments .................................................. 418
11.1 Historical seismology and archaeology ................. 418
11.2 Traces of earthquakes in historical construction and
monuments ............................................. 437
12 Deriving earthquake source and shaking parameters and
tsunami parameters from historical data .................... 473
12.1 On the dates and times of earthquakes and tsunamis
from historical records ............................... 475
12.2 Macroseismic intensity and historical reports ......... 480
12.3 Comparing historical and modern earthquakes to
estimate earthquake location, size and strength of
ground-shaking ........................................ 488
12.4 Estimating tsunami parameters from historical data .... 504
13 Cooperation in historical seismology research .............. 514
13.1 The accuracy of historical earthquake and tsunami
data .................................................. 515
13.2 Improving earthquake catalogues ....................... 517
13.3 Improving seismic hazard estimations .................. 520
13.4 Bringing seismologists, historians and
archaeologists together ............................... 521
Glossary ...................................................... 523
Bibliographical summaries ..................................... 531
References .................................................... 537
Index ......................................................... 584
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