According to an article appropriately named "Deforestation, Mosquitoes and Ancient Rome," reasons for the increase of malarial diseases throughout the world can be compared to a similar phenomenon that occurred in Ancient Rome. It seems that deforestation had many ramifications that began of course with the more frequent flooding of the Tiber river on which the city of Rome was built. The water table rose quite high and thus caused a multitude of insectborrne as well as waterborne diseases to appear in the area. As a result, it seems that in modern-day society, we have simply repeated history and continued to deforest without understanding the insect-borne ramifications (i.e malaria and similar diseases) that come along with this phenomenon. Outcomes of this ancient world activity includes things such as a decrease in animal population, an increase in insect population, flooding, erosion and swamping.
The archaeology behind this paper refers to the discovery of remains in near necropolis as well as the search of ancient Roman funerary records. Studies of the water table in different parts of Italy also suggest that archaeological digs would have had to be performed in order to have a clear understanding of how much the water had increased in that time.
One of the primary sources mentioned in the article is named Pliny the elder as well as his nephew of the same name. Pliny the Elder was an author, a naturalist and a nature philosopher. He spent much time studying and writing about natural phenomenon that occurred throughout his treks across Rome. His most famous work was his book Naturalis Historia which became the model for many modern-day encyclopedias. The article mentions his writings to state that much of the flooding that occurred due to deforestation happened in the city itself. His nephew confirms this by stating that one would hit water almost anywhere they would dig on his Laurentum Estate.
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