From the Guajira Desert to the Apennines, and from Mediterranean Microplates to the Mexican Killer Asteroid: Honoring the Career of Walter Alvarez
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This volume pays tribute to the great career and extensive and varied scientific accomplishments of Walter Alvarez, on the occasion of his 80th birthday in 2020, with a series of papers related to the many topics he covered in the past 60 years: Tectonics of microplates, structural geology, paleomagnetics, Apennine sedimentary sequences, geoarchaeology and Roman volcanics, Big History, and most famously the discovery of evidence for a large asteroidal impact event at the Cretaceous–Tertiary (now Cretaceous–Paleogene) boundary site in Gubbio, Italy, 40 years ago, which started a debate about the connection between meteorite impact and mass extinction. The manuscripts in this special volume were written by many of Walter’s close collaborators and friends, who have worked with him over the years and participated in many projects he carried out. The papers highlight specific aspects of the research and/or provide a summary of the current advances in the field.
The contribution of Walter Alvarez to the investigation of the Capitoline Hill in Rome
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Published:June 21, 2022
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CiteCitation
Albert J. Ammerman, 2022. "The contribution of Walter Alvarez to the investigation of the Capitoline Hill in Rome", From the Guajira Desert to the Apennines, and from Mediterranean Microplates to the Mexican Killer Asteroid: Honoring the Career of Walter Alvarez, Christian Koeberl, Philippe Claeys, Alessandro Montanari
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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.