Gordon Hillman
Encyclopedia
Professor Gordon Hillman B.Sc is Honorary Visiting Professor in Archaeobotany (Palaeoethnobotany) at the Institute of Archaeology
, University College London (UCL
).
He has become well known on UK television via his work with Ray Mears on the BBC
programme 'Wild Food' broadcast in 2007. His trademark Chinstrap Beard makes him particularly recognisable. In conjunction with Mears he has written a book to accompany the series also called 'Wild Food' and published by Hodder & Stoughton
. Fundamentally the series and resultant book looked at strategies for the gathering, processing and storage of wild plants that were likely to have been available in aboriginal
, (hunter-gatherer) Britain
.
In both Britain and overseas, Hillman has made contributions to prehistoric archaeology, particularly in the area of the domestication of cereals, and in particular rye. His work in Turkey illuminated the ethnography of traditional cereal
cultivation and grain
processing, and this work, more than any other, has allowed the interpretation of ancient samples of charred grain (1981, 1984 below). Hillman has also published widely on the plant remains from Late Paleolithic Wadi Kubbaniya in Egypt
(1989) and Tell Abu Hureyra
in Syria
(2000), where his work on environmental change and Mesolithic
-Neolithic
transition is frequently cited and where he is a co-author on numerous papers. He is known for his work the status of human domestication and cultivation of plants before the Neo-lithic agricultural revolution
.
At UCL he held the post of Lecturer in Archaeobotany, then Reader, and is now Visiting Professor having retired early in 1997 on grounds of ill health. He suffers from Parkinson's disease
.
Institute of Archaeology
The UCL Institute of Archaeology is an academic department of the Social & Historical Sciences Faculty of University College London , England. It is one of the largest departments of archaeology in the world, with over 80 members of academic staff and 500 students...
, University College London (UCL
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
).
He has become well known on UK television via his work with Ray Mears on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
programme 'Wild Food' broadcast in 2007. His trademark Chinstrap Beard makes him particularly recognisable. In conjunction with Mears he has written a book to accompany the series also called 'Wild Food' and published by Hodder & Stoughton
Hodder & Stoughton
Hodder & Stoughton is a British publishing house, now an imprint of Hachette.-History:The firm has its origins in the 1840s, with Matthew Hodder's employment, aged fourteen, with Messrs Jackson and Walford, the official publisher for the Congregational Union...
. Fundamentally the series and resultant book looked at strategies for the gathering, processing and storage of wild plants that were likely to have been available in aboriginal
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
, (hunter-gatherer) Britain
Prehistoric Britain
For the purposes of this article, Prehistoric Britain is that period of time between the first arrival of humans on the land mass now known as Great Britain and the start of recorded British history...
.
In both Britain and overseas, Hillman has made contributions to prehistoric archaeology, particularly in the area of the domestication of cereals, and in particular rye. His work in Turkey illuminated the ethnography of traditional cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
cultivation and grain
GRAIN
GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...
processing, and this work, more than any other, has allowed the interpretation of ancient samples of charred grain (1981, 1984 below). Hillman has also published widely on the plant remains from Late Paleolithic Wadi Kubbaniya in Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
(1989) and Tell Abu Hureyra
Tell Abu Hureyra
Tell Abu Hureyra is an archaeological site located in the Euphrates valley in modern Syria. The remains of the villages within the tell come from over 4,000 years of habitation, spanning the Epipaleolithic and Neolithic periods. Ancient Abu Hureyra was occupied between 11,000 and 7,500 years ago...
in Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
(2000), where his work on environmental change and Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
-Neolithic
Neolithic
The Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BC in some parts of the Middle East, and later in other parts of the world. It is traditionally considered as the last part of the Stone Age...
transition is frequently cited and where he is a co-author on numerous papers. He is known for his work the status of human domestication and cultivation of plants before the Neo-lithic agricultural revolution
Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution was the first agricultural revolution. It was the transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture and settlement. Archaeological data indicates that various forms of plants and animal domestication evolved independently in 6 separate locations worldwide circa...
.
At UCL he held the post of Lecturer in Archaeobotany, then Reader, and is now Visiting Professor having retired early in 1997 on grounds of ill health. He suffers from Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease
Parkinson's disease is a degenerative disorder of the central nervous system...
.
Key publications
- Hillman, G. C. (1978) On the origins of domestic rye - Secale cereale: the finds from aceramic Can Hasan III in Turkey. Anatolian Studies 28, 157-174.
- Hillman, G. C. (1981) Reconstructing crop husbandry practices from charred remains of crops. In R. Mercer (ed.) Farming practice in British prehistory, 123-162. Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.
- Hillman, G. C. (1982) Evidence for spelting malt. In R. Leech (ed.) Excavations at Catsgore 1970-1973: a Romano-British village, 137-141. Bristol, Western Archaeological Trust, Excavation Monograph 2.
- Hillman, G. C. (1984) Interpretation of archaeological plant remains: the application of ethnographic models from Turkey. In W. van Zeist and W. A. Casparie (ed.) Plants and ancient man. Studies in palaeoethnobotany, 1-41. Rotterdam, A.A. Balkema.
- Hillman, G. C. (1984) Traditional husbandry and processing of archaic cereals in modern times. Part I, the glume-wheats. Bulletin on Sumerian Agriculture 1, 114-152.
- Hillman, G. C. (1985) Traditional husbandry and processing of archaic cereals in modern times. Part II, the free-threshing cereals. Bulletin on Sumerian Agriculture 2, 1-31.
- Hillman, G. C. (1986) Plant foods in ancient diet: the archaeological role of palaeofaeces in general and Lindow Man's gut contents in particular. In I. M. Stead, J. B. Bourke and D. Brothwell (ed.) Lindow Man: the body in the bog, 99-115, 198-202. London, British Museum.
- Davies, M. S. and Hillman, G. C. (1988) Effects of soil flooding on growth and grain yield of populations of tetraploid and hexaploid species of wheat. Annals of Botany 62, 597-604.
- Harris, D. R. and Hillman, G. C. (1989) Foraging and farming: The evolution of plant exploitation. London, Unwin Hyman, One World Archaeology 13.
- Hillman, G. C., Madeyska, E. and Hather, J. (1989) Wild plant foods and diet at Late Paleolithic Wadi Kubbaniya: the evidence from charred remains. In F. Wendorf, R. Schild and A. E. Close (ed.) The prehistory of Wadi Kubbaniya. Volume 2. Stratigraphy, paleoeconomy, and environment, 162-242. Dallas, TX, Southern Methodist University Press.
- Hillman, G. C. and Davies, M. S. (1990) Measured domestication rates in wild wheats and barley under primitive cultivation, and their archaeological implications. Journal of World Prehistory 4, 157-222.
- Hillman, G. C. (1996) Late Pleistocene changes in wild plant-foods available to hunter-gatherers of the northern Fertile Crescent: possible preludes to cereal cultivation. In D. R. Harris (ed.) The origins and spread of agriculture and pastoralism in Eurasia, 159-203. London, UCL Press.
- Moore, A. M. T., Hillman, G. C. and Legge, A. J. (2000) Village on the Euphrates: from foraging to farming at Abu Hureyra. New York, Oxford University Press.
- Hillman, G. C., Hedges, R., Moore, A., Colledge, S. and Pettitt, P. (2001) New evidence of Lateglacial cereal cultivation at Abu Hureyra on the Euphrates. The Holocene 11, 383-393.
- Mason, S. L. R., Hather, J. G. and Hillman, G. C. (2002) The archaeobotany of European hunter-gatherers: some preliminary investigations. In S. L. R. Mason and J. G. Hather (ed.) Hunter-gatherer archaeobotany, 188-196. London, Institute of Archaeology, University College London.
- Hillman, G. C. (2003) Investigating the start of cultivation in western Eurasia: studies of plant remains from Abu Hureyra on the Euphrates. In A. J. Ammerman and P. Biagi (ed.) The widening harvest: the Neolithic transition in Europe: looking back, looking forward, 75-97. Boston, MA, Archaeological Institute of America.
- Fairbairn, A., Martinoli, D., Butler, A. and Hillman, G. C. (2006) Wild plant seed storage at Neolithic Çatalhöyük East, Turkey. Vegetation History and Archaeobotany 16, 467-479.
- Mears, R. and Hillman, G. C. (2007) Wild food. London, Hodder & Stoughton.