RESEARCH Overview

archaeological science ArchaeoethnobotAny CLASSICS MYTHOLOGY LINGUISTICS

My above photo (2016) shows a young olive tree adjacent to the 5th century BCE Erechtheion Temple on the Athenian Acropolis. There has probably been an olive tree here for the past two and a half thousand years, but not necessarily continuously. Each time an older olive tree dies, a new one is planted. This photo illustrates a nexus, representing a combination of my research interests. Archaeoethnobotany examines ancient plant use, in this above photo focusing on the agronomy of Ancient Greece in Attica, but not limited to this time and place, since my research also focuses on Otzi the Iceman and the plants he used around 5,300 years ago. Classics is the focused study of the Mediterranean World centered on Greek and Rome in archaeology, history and language. My historical plant research research also examines the literature of plants in ancient medicine and other uses from Dioscorides’ De Materia Medica and Theophrastus’ De Plantarum as well as the history of wine and viticulture since at least the Neolithic Era. Mythology tells us that early Athenians believed the olive tree was the legendary gift of the goddess Athena who became the patron goddess of Athens by providing the first olive tree to Athens, thereby winning the competition over Poseidon who gave a spring for the Acropolis, but with impractical salty water. Subsequent oleaculture - planned cultivation of the olive - emphasized the immense practicality of this wise gift and its triple benefits: it was good for food and also a medium for medicine as the carrying vehicle for plant-based remedies and cosmetics, plus its oil could be burned for light in lamps when nightfall came, thereby extending the civilizing arts when daytime tasks were finished. In the dim past before Athena gave the olive, myth suggested it was too dark at night to do anything but sleep and fear of the dark was a barrier to the advance of civilization. Archaeological Science examines the historical context of materials and applies scientific methodology to questions of sources (provenance), dating, detailed composition of specific materials and other areas where a science interface illuminates ancient technology and material history in general. Linguistics examines words and languages in proper historical context and the processes by which these words change and become canonic. The overlap of these disciplines is a necessary combination of different foci, not limited to a single subject. I have been fortunate in that my complementary training over decades facilitates both a broad interdisciplinary approach and details of specific topics without compromising the data.

Dioscorides’ DE MATERIA MEDICA facsimile copy in Bodleian Library, Oxford, 2017. As a Research Associate at the Institute for EthnoMedicine in Archaeoethnobotany, my research specializes on ancient plant texts from the Classical and Pre-Classical World - including the late Neolithic alpine “Otzi the Iceman” where we have no texts - as well as nearly five thousand years of Egyptian texts and the pharmacology treatises of Theophrastus and Dioscorides, among others, and their botanical legacies. Some of this is a focus of my Stanford CSP course “Medicine in the Ancient World” taught approximately every two years.

Blackthorn berries (Prunus spinosa) were found in “Otzi the Iceman” Alpine summit contexts from 5,300 years ago; one berry was found in his intestinal tract and another beside his body. Blackthorn is a known superfood with metabolic stimulation properties as well as being anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, high in Vitamin C, effective against high altitude vertigo and eczema, the latter two conditions being byproducts of Lyme Disease from which Otzi suffered. The berries had to have been harvested in the previous year and then dried. Because they were multiply effective against many ailments, this carrying and eating must have been deliberate (Image from 2020). Some of this is recently published in Electrum Magazine and expanded in a forthcoming book on” Otzi the Iceman”. — Blackthorn berries (*Prunus spinosa*) were found in “Otzi the Iceman” Alpine summit contexts from 5,300 years ago; one berry was found in his intestinal tract and another beside his body. Blackthorn is a known superfood with metabolic stimulation properties as well as being anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, high in Vitamin C, effective against high altitude vertigo and eczema, the latter two conditions being byproducts of Lyme Disease from which Otzi suffered. The berries had to have been harvested in the previous year and then dried. Because they were multiply effective against many ailments, this carrying and eating must have been deliberate (Image from 2020). Some of this is recently published in *Electrum Magazine* and expanded in a forthcoming book on” Otzi the Iceman”.

Viticulture in Napa Valley between Napa and Yountville, 2020. The long history of viticulture across many continents begins in the Caucasus and Anatolia and reaches to nearly every continent. The brief several hundred years of wine history of California in particular build on the long established viticulture of the Greeks and Romans in Old World Europe and before that stretching back to the Neolithic Era at least seven thousand years ago. The antecedents to California are selectively published in my book Wine Journeys: Myth and History and also taught in my annual Stanford CSP “History of Wine” course where California viticulture is also studied. — Viticulture in Napa Valley between Napa and Yountville, 2020. The long history of viticulture across many continents begins in the Caucasus and Anatolia and reaches to nearly every continent. The brief several hundred years of wine history of California in particular build on the long established viticulture of the Greeks and Romans in Old World Europe and before that stretching back to the Neolithic Era at least seven thousand years ago. The antecedents to California are selectively published in my book *Wine Journeys: Myth and History* and also taught in my annual Stanford CSP “History of Wine” course where California viticulture is also studied.

This opus sectile floor surrounds Charlemagne’s Throne in Aachen Cathedral (Kaiserdom); it is derived from original Roman “marble” (marmor) although not necessarily geological marble. Almost the exact same stones (Imperial porphyry from Egypt, Giallo Numidiana from Carthage, Docimian pavonazetta from Asia Minor, Lapis Lacadaemonis from Greece, and Granito Bigio) are found on the second century CE Pantheon floor in Rome and express a form of imperium (a statement of imperial power), which Charlemagne’s Throne also expresses in his function as “Holy Roman Emperor” around 800 CE to which this floor roughly dates. This photo is an example of my published stone provenance research in archaeological science (Photo from 2019). Some of this is also recently published in my book Archaeology and the Bible where imperial propaganda becomes a form of perceived reality. — This *opus sectile* floor surrounds Charlemagne’s Throne in Aachen Cathedral (Kaiserdom); it is derived from original Roman “marble” (*marmor*) although not necessarily geological marble. Almost the exact same stones (Imperial porphyry from Egypt, Giallo Numidiana from Carthage, Docimian pavonazetta from Asia Minor, Lapis Lacadaemonis from Greece, and Granito Bigio) are found on the second century CE Pantheon floor in Rome and express a form of imperium (a statement of imperial power), which Charlemagne’s Throne also expresses in his function as “Holy Roman Emperor” around 800 CE to which this floor roughly dates. This photo is an example of my published stone provenance research in archaeological science (Photo from 2019). Some of this is also recently published in my book *Archaeology and the Bible* where imperial propaganda becomes a form of perceived reality.