The natural history of Pompeii
By: edited by Wilhelmina Feemster Jashemski, Frederick G. Meyer
Contributors: Jashemski, Wilhelmina Mary Feemster, 1910-; Meyer, Frederick G. 1917-
Publisher: Cambridge University Press; Brand: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2002
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 502
Subjects: Natural history -- Pompeii (Extinct city)
Description: The sudden destruction of Pompeii, Herculaneum and the surrounding Campanian countryside following the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 preserved the remarkable evidence that has made possible this reconstruction of the natural history of the local environment. Following the prototype of Pliny the Elder's Natural History, various aspects of the natural history of Pompeii are discussed and analyzed by a team of eminent scientists, many of whom have collaborated with Jashemski during her years of excavation of several gardens in the Vesuvian area. This volume brings together the work of geologists, soil specialists, paleobotanists, botanists, palaeontologists, biologists, chemists, dendrochronologists, ichthyologists, zoologists, ornithologists, mammalogists, herpetologists, entymologists, and archaeologists, affording a thorough picture of the landscape, flora, and fauna of the ancient sites. The detailed and rigorously scientific catalogues, which are copiously illustrated, provide a checklist of the flora and fauna upon which future generations of scholars can continue to build.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes