Description
Book SynopsisWhere Stonehenge''s giant bluestones come from? Was the fall of the Roman Empire hastened by lead poisoning? How did amber get from the Baltic to Belize? In exploring these and other historical enigmas, Joseph Lambert expertly details the rich insights into ancient life that chemistry alone can provide.Using cutting-edge scientific methods such as radiocarbon dating, DNA analysis, and elemental fingerprinting, acclaimed chemist Joseph Lambert expertly details the rich insights into ancient life that chemistry alone can provide. He shows, for example, how investigators today can determine the diet of prehistoric Europeans, the geographical origin of the marble in a Greek statue, or the reason why the Liberty Bell cracked. He uses nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to reconstruct ancient trade routes, and X-ray diffraction, among other methods, to compare the colour palettes of the Mesopotamians and Egyptians (the latter were apparently much more flamboyant). He explains how chemica
Table of Contents* Stone * Soil * Pottery * Color * Glass * Organics * Metals * Humans * Epilogue
