Fungi in the Acient World
New!
Fungi in
the Ancient World
How Mushrooms, Mildews,
Molds, and Yeast
Shaped the Early
Civilizations of Europe,
the Mediterranean, and the Near
East
By Frank Matthews Dugan
Were ancient religions the product of
hallucinogenic mushrooms?
Did mycotoxins cause the plague of
Athens?
Did poisonous mushrooms kill the
emperor?
Frank Dugan sifts the evidence, separates hype and hyperbole from factual
and plausible events, and conclusively demonstrates that fungi have strongly
influenced western civilization from its very beginnings.
Fungi in the ancient world included edible, poisonous and psychoactive
mushrooms, potent yeasts for brewing and baking, and pathogens of plants, humans
and animals. Fungi and their impacts were recorded in art, literature, folklore,
and myth.
“…this
book will make a welcome contribution to the bookshelf of many an interested
mycologist.”
--Persoonia
“The
publication aims especially at readers with general historical and cultural
interest. It provides ample stimuli not only to plant pathologists to more
closely follow up the described examples and phenomena.”
--
Journal of Phytopathology
“…simple and easy to understand style and fully references his discussions. For
those wanting an easy bedtime read on the impact of fungi in society than I can
recommend this book. It is also of value to students of fungi, especially as it
is fully referenced.”
--
Plant Protection Quarterly
Fungi in the Ancient World
is a comprehensive review on the impact of fungi in helping to shape ancient
civilizations. Mushrooms, mildews, molds, and yeast had a surprisingly profound
impact on: diet, custom, politics, religion; human, animal, plant health; art,
folklore, and the beginnings of science. This insightful book is a gateway to
current methodologies for investigation of the co-evolution of plants, fungi,
and humans from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages.
This well documented book presents reproductions and
descriptions of fungal motifs in ancient art, myth, and folklore that enable
direct examination of evidence by any reader, professional or lay.
Interdisciplinary in scope, this detailed and illustrated book includes a
historical perspective on co-evolution of fungi with early agriculture that
provides documented summaries of contemporary research in this area, from
archaeology to molecular-genetics. It also delivers a historical perspective on
the impact of fungi on human and animal health in early times, with examples of
current methods used to assess historical impacts of mycotoxins, allergens, and
pathogens. Translations and summaries from relevant ancient Greek, Roman,
Sumerian and other texts are included, demonstrating how ancients themselves
observed and recorded significant impacts of fungi.
Peer reviewed for accuracy and balance, the book provides multiple
perspectives from professionals in mycology, plant pathology, ancient
history, and folklore. It summarizes a wide range of highly controversial
published views on the impact of fungi on customs, folklore, and religion. In
doing this, the title presents perspectives on what is probable, plausible, or
improbable in this highly debated area that helped form western civilization.
Fungi in the Ancient World will be of interest to mycologists, plant pathologists, historians,
folklorists, plant breeders, anthropologists, ethnobotanists, ethnomycologists,
and others interested in fungi’s impact on ancient history. Extensively
referenced and indexed.
Frank Dugan, the author, is a Research Plant Pathologist with the USDA-ARS
Western Regional Plant Germplasm Introduction and Testing Research Station at
Washington State University. He was formerly a Collection Scientist for Mycology
and Botany at American Type Culture Collections, and spent his career managing
and researching diverse collections of fungal and higher plant germplasm. Dr.
Dugan is also the author of the best-selling, critically acclaimed APS PRESS
book The
Identification of Fungi: An Illustrated Introduction with Keys, Glossary, and
Guide to Literature.
Contents
Chapter
1: Introduction
Chapter
2: Fungi in Baking and Brewing
Baking: Light Bread and Heavy Ovens
Brewing: Fermentation Products and Deities
Wine in Feasting and Daily Life in Greece and Rome
Chapter
3: Edible Fungi
Mycophagy in Greece and
Rome
Mycophagy in Other Cultures
Chapter
4: Fungi as “Entheogens”
Fungi, Philology, and Mythology
Matriarchies, Tanists, and Ritual Sacrifice
Chapter
5: Poisonous Fungi and Mycotoxins
Poisonous Fungi
Mycotoxins
Summary of Ancient Storage Practices
Experiments Duplicating Ancient Storage Practices or Using Ancient Crops
Ancient Historical Events Speculatively Attributed to Mycotoxins
Wheezing and Sneezing: Molded Feed, Hay, and Silage
Chapter
6: Fungi Used for Medicinal Purposes and Other Technologies
Panaceas and Pyrotechnics
Lichens as Remedies and Fabric Dyes
Chapter
7: Plant-Pathogenic Fungi
Ancient Agriculture, Landraces of Crop Plants, and Fungal Plant Pathogens
The Ancient Near East
Greco-Roman Antiquity
Europe North of the Mediterranean
Spread of Plant Pathogens via Transport of Seeds
Chapter
8: Fungi as Agents of Rot on Wood and Fabric
Tsara’at = Mold
Conservation of Artifacts
Chapter
9: Human and Animal Pathogens
Ringworm and Other
Nasties
Fungi and Healing Rituals
Chapter
10: Environmental and Ecological Roles of Fungi
Coprophilous Fungi and Archaeobotany
What Killed the Elms?
Chapter
11: Ancient Fungi Preserved in Glacial Ice or Permafrost
Ice and Permafrost
The Iceman
Caveats to the Study of Ancient Fungal DNA
Chapter
12: Ancient Images of Fungi
Phalli and the Dancing
Myco-Shamans
Greco-Roman Images
Agarics and Huns
Chapter
13: Fungi in Ancient European Folklore
Eastern European Pagans
Western Europe
The Celts and Fairies
The Anglo-Saxon Charms
Etruscan Echoes
Chapter
14: Ideas of the Ancients on Fungal Biology
Biology without a
Microscope
Chapter
15: Some Additional Hypotheses Regarding the Impact of Fungi in Ancient Times
Plant Pathogens and the History of Agriculture
Fermented Beverages and Social Structure
Psychoactive Fungi and the Evolution of Consciousness
Manna from Heaven
Chapter
16: Conclusions
Literature Cited
Index
2008; 6" x
9" softcover; 152 pages; 13 black and white figures; ISBN 978-0-89054-361-0; (2
pounds); Item No. 43610
