Michael McCormick of Harvard University will lead a seminar and give a lecture geared towards undergraduate students.
Thursday, October 28, 5:00-7:00pm - Intellectual Commons of Doheny Library
Markets and shipwrecks in the Late Antique and Medieval Mediterranean
Can we feel the pulse of ancient economies? What is an ancient market and how do we get there, intellectually? How do we think about ancient and medieval markets? Did information economics play a role in the pre-modern world? What do underwater archaeology and the spectacular discoveries of ancient shipwrecks teach us about goods, merchants and markets on the move?
Friday, October 29, 1:00-3:00pm - SOS 250
Benjamin Franklin, Charlemagne and the Volcanoes
Starts with reading of some 8th-century texts about a bad winter and asks what science can do with this. Discusses historical significance of climate change and human response, palaeoclimate studies. Presents climate impact of volcanism (first hypothesized by Franklin) then analyzes evidence of Greenland ice cores for winters of 8th and 9th C. Europe. What does it mean?
Those interested in further details should contact Professor Jason Glenn, jkglenn@usc.edu.
