Classics is considered one of the original collaborative programs because of its multidisciplinary scope. Professor of classics Sturt Manning, who joined the Cornell faculty in January, takes that notion even further afield -- into statistics and climatology.

"It is a common mistake to think that classics is just about the ancient languages -- it is not," said Manning, whose position includes an affiliation with the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences (EAS). "I use interdisciplinary approaches that bring environmental, climatic, material culture, geo-archaeological and anthropological evidence together to study past climate, environmental changes, landscapes, societies and people."

On July 1, Manning also will assume directorship of the Malcolm and Carolyn Wiener Laboratory for Aegean and Near Eastern Dendrochronology, founded by Peter Kuniholm, who is retiring. Kuniholm, professor of art history and archaeology, pioneered tree-ring dating at Cornell. Manning has collaborated with Kuniholm on a number of projects and was an obvious candidate to succeed him in the directorship of the lab.

"We built the skeleton," said Kuniholm. "Now he has to add the flesh -- for example: Which tree ring represents year one of Hammurabi of Babylon? Manning is young enough and energetic enough to do it. He will also be able to reach out to the scientific community at Cornell."

Manning, who arrived from the University of Toronto, will teach courses in dendrochronology and science-based dating in archaeology, Aegean and east Mediterranean prehistory, and classical archaeology and art. He also will play a role in the graduate field of geological sciences.

Manning is working to create a data set that documents historical states of environmental conditions -- and change -- and of solar activity over the last several thousand years, based on measurements of isotopes in the wood of ancient buildings.

"That research objective aligns beautifully with one of the broad research objectives of our EAS program," said Teresa Jordan, EAS professor, "which is to glean from ancient geological records of global change an understanding of how the environment responded to prior climate variations, to combine this understanding with knowledge of modern climate and environmental controls and thereby to better predict the outcome of the 21st century changes."

Born in Australia, Manning earned a B.A. in classics from the Australian National University in 1986, his master's from the School of History, Philosophy and Politics at Macquarie University, Australia, 1988, and his Ph.D. in classics from Cambridge University, 1995.

"The thing about Manning that has to strike anybody who meets him is his astounding energy," said Hayden Pelliccia, chair of Cornell's Department of Classics. "He has published a staggering amount of first-rate work, and the most famous senior scholars in Mediterranean archaeology regard that work as being of the highest quality, on subjects of fundamental importance. He also has developed and taught innovative courses, trained himself in these other areas of learning -- climatology, statistics -- that most classicists are completely clueless about, and has been directing a dig in Cyprus for over a decade."

Peter Lepage, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, also emphasized the collaborative nature of Manning's appointment.

"Sturt Manning is obviously an important addition to our current, excellent efforts in the classics department and in the archaeology program," LePage said. "The appointment is unusual in the way that it bridges the humanities and the sciences. Dendrochronology, like many other aspects of archaeology, depends on sophisticated scientific tools. But more unusual, it also is becoming quite relevant to such topical scientific research areas as global-climate research and environmental studies, since tree rings can provide historical information about the climate in which the trees grew. Manning will continue the lab's extraordinary work in archaeology but also lead the lab into these newer areas that are of great importance to a world that is increasingly concerned with environmental sustainability."