Seismic Activity in the Celje Basin (Slovenia) in Roman Times—Archaeoseismological Evidence from Celeia

Abstract

Searching for unknown earthquakes in Slovenia in the first millennium, we performed archaeoseismological analysis of Roman settlements. The Mesto pod mestom museum in Celje exhibits a paved Roman road, which suffered severe deformation. Built on fine gravel and sand from the Savinja River, the road displays a bulge and trench, pop-up structures, and pavement slabs tilted up to 40°. The city wall was built over the deformed road in Late Roman times, supported by a foundation containing recycled material (spolia) from public buildings, including an emperor’s statue. We hypothesize that a severe earthquake hit the town before 350 AD, causing widespread destruction. Seismic-induced liquefaction caused differential subsidence, deforming the road. One of the nearby faults from the strike-slip Periadriatic fault system was the seismic source of this event.

Keywords

• paleoseismology
• Periadriatic fault system
• active tectonics
• Southern Alps
• Pannonian Basin
• Dinarides