Preview
Creation Date
2019
Description
With environmental concerns looming large, the question of how we count and account for biodiversity is both complex and urgent. Yet we are hardly the first people to wrestle with it. Earlier cultures developed tools of categorization that set templates for those of today.
This exhibit shows some of the ways in which plant life was understood and conceptually organized in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, particularly in books we call "herbals." The display cases contain herbals and botanic literature from WVU's own collection of rare books.
Keywords
categorization, biodiversity, herbals, Antiquity, Middle Ages