The contribution of Walter Alvarez to the investigation of the Capitoline Hill in Rome

Abstract

ABSTRACT The chapter consists of five sections. The first one provides an introduction to the collaboration between Walter Alvarez and the author in the interdisciplinary study of the Capitoline Hill in the early 1990s. The second section turns to how we first met in Rome in 1970 and our parallel pathways over the next two decades that saw each of us take the lead in developing a big new idea based on innovative interdisciplinary research. The third section gives the earth scientist essential background on the study of early Rome: such things as the seven kings of Rome, the original topography of the early city, and the syndrome of the eternal Rome. The fourth section develops an overview on the work that we conducted on the Capitoline Hill and the new results obtained. In the fifth section, we step back and consider the contribution of Walter Alvarez to our subsequent research and publications on early Rome and the emergence of the field of geoarchaeology in the study of ancient Rome.