ABSTRACT
T he treasures of the past are often cloaked in improbable disguises. Intellectual detectives investigating the mysteries of antiquity—archeologists, paleontologists, and historians are some of the most persistent—eventually learn that they cannot afford to overlook the unexpected but intriguing clues that point their explorations in previously unplanned directions. A clay cup and perfume bottle found by archeologists off the coast of Italy ultimately led to major advances in understanding colonization patterns of the early Greeks; seemingly innocuous bits of information have also triggered surprising revelations in other domains. As with the Grecian cup and bottle, the clues that gave rise to this book were unanticipated but irresistibly suggestive. They pointed to a little-known scientific figure from the past, and intimated that a cache of intellectual riches was hidden behind the deceptive veneer of the stranger's obscurity.
