Garum, a pungent, fish-based seasoning, used in Roman cooking is being used to help precisely date the volcanic eruption that buried the city of Pompeii.
It's all very distressing, the way these wacky scholars keep going back and forth on the date. Last time, the big news was that, based on the dating of the wine vats, a coin found in the ruins, and the clothing people were wearing, combined with an alternate way to read the date in Pliny Jr.'s writing, the eruption would have been in October, not August.
I should be excited about reading the latest research. Instead, I am rather irritated by what this is doing to my comic's timeline! My poor confused characters! :}
My SO (sordak) is dealing with a bit of the opposite problem. He was writing an alternate history about Rome, (The Roman View), and, in doing some research to (finally) give some names to the totally made-up characters, found a situation in the time period he was thinking about, which, with a small bit of tweaking, matched his characters and opportunities. This was not the first time he has done such a thing.
Weirdly, that's often the type of luck I have when writing about the ancient world. You come up with something, then discover that, yes, there was such-and-such a person or event. Spoooooky.
Maybe I should have stuck with the original plan and not listened to those pesky dueling archaeologists! Always uncovering new evidence trying to discover the truth. Hmph!
"Pompeii's last batch of garum was made with bougues, a fish that was cheap and easy to find on the market in those summer months. Still today, people living in this region make a modern version of garum, called "colatura di alici" or anchovy juice, in July when this fish abounds on the markets," [Annamaria] Ciarallo [Director of Pompeii's Applied Research Laboratory] said.
The eruption froze the sauce right at the moment when the fish was left to macerate. No batches of finished garum were found, since the liquid evaporated in the heat from the eruption.
"Since bogues abounded in July and early August and ancient Roman recipes recommend leaving the fish to macerate for no longer than a month, we can say that the eruption occurred in late August-early September, a date which is totally compatible with Pliny's account," Ciarallo said.
Doubts about the date of the eruption emerged a couple of yeas ago when archaeologists discovered a coin which seemed to refer to the 15th imperiatorial acclamation of Titus, believed to have occurred on Sept. 7, 79 A.D.
"Unfortunately, that coin can't be taken as a dating evidence, since it is hardly readable. I myself agree with Ciarallo's dating of the eruption, even though I think that a bit of mystery remains. However, it is not so important whether the eruption occurred in August or in October," Teresa Giove, a coin expert at Naples' Archaeological Museum, told Discovery News.
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no subject
Date: 2008-10-21 01:16 am (UTC)"All well?"
"Message from Felix."
In other words, No! Are messages from Felix ever good news? ;-)
I like the way that the actions of the main characters are being reflected by the secondary characters, like a prism.
no subject
Date: 2008-10-21 01:21 am (UTC)Something like that.
Nap time.
New uses for Fish Sauce!
Date: 2008-10-21 03:25 am (UTC)Garum helps date Pompeii volcanic eruption
http://scatoday.net/node/12411
Garum, a pungent, fish-based seasoning, used in Roman cooking is being used to help precisely date the volcanic eruption that buried the city of Pompeii.
Re: New uses for Fish Sauce!
Date: 2008-10-21 12:05 pm (UTC)I should be excited about reading the latest research. Instead, I am rather irritated by what this is doing to my comic's timeline! My poor confused characters! :}
Re: New uses for Fish Sauce!
Date: 2008-10-22 01:46 am (UTC)Re: New uses for Fish Sauce!
Date: 2008-10-22 12:03 pm (UTC)Maybe I should have stuck with the original plan and not listened to those pesky dueling archaeologists! Always uncovering new evidence trying to discover the truth. Hmph!
Re: New uses for Fish Sauce!
Date: 2008-10-21 12:11 pm (UTC)"Pompeii's last batch of garum was made with bougues, a fish that was cheap and easy to find on the market in those summer months. Still today, people living in this region make a modern version of garum, called "colatura di alici" or anchovy juice, in July when this fish abounds on the markets," [Annamaria] Ciarallo [Director of Pompeii's Applied Research Laboratory] said.
The eruption froze the sauce right at the moment when the fish was left to macerate. No batches of finished garum were found, since the liquid evaporated in the heat from the eruption.
"Since bogues abounded in July and early August and ancient Roman recipes recommend leaving the fish to macerate for no longer than a month, we can say that the eruption occurred in late August-early September, a date which is totally compatible with Pliny's account," Ciarallo said.
Doubts about the date of the eruption emerged a couple of yeas ago when archaeologists discovered a coin which seemed to refer to the 15th imperiatorial acclamation of Titus, believed to have occurred on Sept. 7, 79 A.D.
"Unfortunately, that coin can't be taken as a dating evidence, since it is hardly readable. I myself agree with Ciarallo's dating of the eruption, even though I think that a bit of mystery remains. However, it is not so important whether the eruption occurred in August or in October," Teresa Giove, a coin expert at Naples' Archaeological Museum, told Discovery News.
source (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26947215/)