Name: The Science of Roman History: Biology, Climate, and the Future of the Past
Price: 593.00 ZAR
Availability: InStock
Author: Walter Scheidel
ISBN: 9780691195988

portada The Science of Roman History: Biology, Climate, and the Future of the Past

The Science of Roman History: Biology, Climate, and the Future of the Past

Type

Physical Book

Author

Walter Scheidel

Publisher

Princeton University Press

Year

2019

Language

English

Pages

280

Format

Paperback

ISBN13

9780691195988

Synopsis "The Science of Roman History: Biology, Climate, and the Future of the Past "

How the latest cutting-edge science offers a fuller picture of life in Rome and antiquityThis groundbreaking book provides the first comprehensive look at how the latest advances in the sciences are transforming our understanding of ancient Roman history. Walter Scheidel brings together leading historians, anthropologists, and geneticists at the cutting edge of their fields, who explore novel types of evidence that enable us to reconstruct the realities of life in the Roman world.Contributors discuss climate change and its impact on Roman history, and then cover botanical and animal remains, which cast new light on agricultural and dietary practices. They exploit the rich record of human skeletal material--both bones and teeth―which forms a bio-archive that has preserved vital information about health, nutritional status, diet, disease, working conditions, and migration. Complementing this discussion is an in-depth analysis of trends in human body height, a marker of general well-being. This book also assesses the contribution of genetics to our understanding of the past, demonstrating how ancient DNA is used to track infectious diseases, migration, and the spread of livestock and crops, while the DNA of modern populations helps us reconstruct ancient migrations, especially colonization.Opening a path toward a genuine biohistory of Rome and the wider ancient world, The Science of Roman History offers an accessible introduction to the scientific methods being used in this exciting new area of research, as well as an up-to-date survey of recent findings and a tantalizing glimpse of what the future holds.

Walter Scheidel

(Author)

View Author's Page

Walter Scheidel is a professor of Humanities and Classics and History at Stanford University. His research spans from ancient social and economic history to premodern historical demography, focusing on inequality and state formation. He has written or co-edited 21 books and published more than 260 articles and reviews

Among his most notable works is The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century (2017), which analyzes the evolution of inequality throughout history. Another notable work is Escape from Rome: The Failure of Empire and the Road to Prosperity (2019), where he explores the fall of the Roman Empire and its implications for subsequent economic development. These publications fall within the genre of economic and social history.

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