ABSTRACT
In the Roman period as in any other, climate, disease, farming practices, and natural disasters have their effect on the style and quality of life in both town and countryside. Evidence from leaves, twigs, seeds, and pollens can build up into a broad picture of the climate, the vegetation, and the environment in the Roman period. Recent research, relying heavily on environmental material, on the gardens of the Roman town of Pompeii has produced new evidence of a sort which had never been thought possible before. Environmental samples can be used to provide the material for a number of scientific dating techniques. Radiocarbon dating is based on detailed work on one of the rarer radioactive isotopes of carbon, so-called carbon-14, which occurs naturally at a constant level in the atmosphere. A careful search of the old ground surface itself has often revealed carbonized seeds or fruit pips, further evidence of the types of trees and other vegetation in the gardens.
