In the words of well-known Hispanic immigrant Harvard alumnus and teacher George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” As we experience once again these ancient traumas, the Initiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard is sharing its public lectures on the scientific and archaeological investigation of pandemics of the past, an important research focus of SoHP’s Max Planck-Harvard Research Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean (MHAAM), and highlighting some of the media coverage of our contributions.
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Medieval Academy of America:
Speculum Webinar on "Disease, Death, and Therapy"
Prof. Michael McCormick (Goelet Professor of Medieval History, Chair, Inititiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard and Co-Director, Max Planck - Harvard Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean) speaks on "Gregory of Tours on Sixth-Century Plague and Other Epidemics."
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What History Teaches Us About Pandemics
Prof. Michael McCormick (Goelet Professor of Medieval History, Chair, Inititiative for the Science of the Human Past at Harvard and Co-Director, Max Planck - Harvard Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean)
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Death by Contact: Ancient Pathogens from Epidemics in Early Mexico
Prof. Johannes Krause (Max Planck - Harvard Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean)
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The Genetic History of Plague from the Stone Age to the 18th century.
Prof. Johannes Krause (Max Planck - Harvard Center for the Archaeoscience of the Ancient Mediterranean)
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Nature Did it! Roman Ecology and the Global History of Infectious Diseases
Prof. Kyle Harper (University of Oklahoma).
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Climate Change and Health: How Climate Contributed to the Black Death's Mortality
Prof. Alexander More (Science of the Human Past at Harvard & Climate Change Institute, University of Maine)
Media coverage of our research on past pandemics:
"Milan's Medieval Response to the Plague Holds Lessons for Today," Op-Ed by SoHP-MHAAM doctoral student John Mulhall, The Washington Post, 4/27/2020.