When Science Sheds Light on History
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€18.99
15th century France
A01=Phillipe Charlier
Agnes Sorel
ancestors
Antiquity
Author_Phillipe Charlier
bloodstains
Category=JBG
Category=JHM
Category=JKVF1
Category=NHT
Category=PDZ
Diane de Poitiers
divine cures
embalming materials
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
eq_society-politics
fingerprints
forensic anthropology
forensic science history
graves
graveyard
Henry II
Henry IV
Indiana Jones
investigating ancient times
investigation
Joan of Arc
Maori
medieval
mummy
museums
Richard the Lionheart
Robespierre
Stone Age
tomb
Tutankhamen
unsolved historical mysteries
Product details
- ISBN 9780813056548
- Weight: 300g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 26 Sep 2017
- Publisher: University Press of Florida
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Did Richard the Lionheart really die from just a crossbow wound, or was there foul play? Who are the two infant children buried in Tutankhamen’s tomb? Could a skull found in a tax collector’s attic be the long-lost head of Henri IV? In When Science Sheds Light on History, Philippe Charlier, the “Indiana Jones of the graveyards,” travels the globe with his forensics team to unravel these and other historic mysteries. To get answers, Charlier looks for clues in medical records, death masks, fingerprints, and bloodstains. He even enlists the help of perfume experts to smell and identify embalming materials. He reconstructs the face of Robespierre and analyzes charred bones attributed to Joan of Arc. He identifies toxic levels of gold in the hair of Diane de Poitiers, mistress of Henri II, and mercury poisoning in the body of Agnès Sorel, the “most beautiful woman” in fifteenth-century France.
Charlier also pieces together the stories of people whose names and lives have long been forgotten. He investigates Stone Age graves, medieval necropolises, and museum collections. Playing the role of both crime scene investigator and forensic anthropologist, Charlier diagnoses a mummy with malaria, an ancient Greek child with Down syndrome, and a stately Roman with encephalitis. He studies accounts of divine cures from antiquity. He determines the origins of preserved heads of the Jivaro and Maori people to help museums return them to their clans.
Exploring how our ancestors lived and how they died, the forty cases in this book tackle some of history’s most enduring questions and illustrate the power of science to reveal the secrets of the past.
Charlier also pieces together the stories of people whose names and lives have long been forgotten. He investigates Stone Age graves, medieval necropolises, and museum collections. Playing the role of both crime scene investigator and forensic anthropologist, Charlier diagnoses a mummy with malaria, an ancient Greek child with Down syndrome, and a stately Roman with encephalitis. He studies accounts of divine cures from antiquity. He determines the origins of preserved heads of the Jivaro and Maori people to help museums return them to their clans.
Exploring how our ancestors lived and how they died, the forty cases in this book tackle some of history’s most enduring questions and illustrate the power of science to reveal the secrets of the past.
