Willem van Zeist is an Archaeologist

Archaeology

Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...

, Palynologist

Palynology

Palynology is the science that studies contemporary and fossil palynomorphs, including pollen, spores, orbicules, dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs, chitinozoans and scolecodonts, together with particulate organic matter and kerogen found in sedimentary rocks and sediments...

 and Professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 of Paleobotany

Paleobotany

Paleobotany, also spelled as palaeobotany , is the branch of paleontology or paleobiology dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments , and both the evolutionary history of plants, with a...

. He was the Director of the Biologisch-Archaeologisch Instituut, Rijksuniversiteit of the University of Groningen

University of Groningen

The University of Groningen , located in the city of Groningen, was founded in 1614. It is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands as well as one of its largest. Since its inception more than 100,000 students have graduated...

 in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

.

Biography

Van Zeist studied biology at the University of Utrecht, completing his PhD dissertation in 1955 on pollen analysis investigation in the Netherlands, with special reference to archaeology (Acta Botanica Neerlandica 4, 1955). From 1951-1989 he was linked to the Biologisch-Archaeologisch Instituut (Biological-Archaeological Institute). In 1967 he became lecturer and in 1973 associate professor of Palaeobotany at the University of Groningen.

European research

Van Zeist conducted important research in Europe on the oldest recovered canoe

Canoe

A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...

 in the world, the canoe of Pesse

Hoogeveen

Hoogeveen is a municipality and a town in the northeastern Netherlands.- Population centres :Elim, Fluitenberg, Hoogeveen and Noordscheschut, which still have the canals which used to be throughout the town...

 (the Netherlands). According to C14 dating

Radiocarbon dating

Radiocarbon dating is a radiometric dating method that uses the naturally occurring radioisotope carbon-14 to estimate the age of carbon-bearing materials up to about 58,000 to 62,000 years. Raw, i.e. uncalibrated, radiocarbon ages are usually reported in radiocarbon years "Before Present" ,...

 analysis it was found to be constructed somewhere between 8200 and 7600 BC. This canoe is exhibited in the Drents Museum

Drents Museum

The Drents Museum is a historical museum located in Assen, Netherlands. It was founded by the King's Commissioner of Drenthe on November 28, 1854 as the Provincial Museum of Drents Antiquities.-Collection:...

 in Assen

Assen

Assen is a municipality and a city in the north eastern Netherlands, capital of the province of Drenthe. It received city rights in 1809. Assen's main claim to fame is the TT Circuit Assen the motorcycle racing circuit, where on the last Saturday in June the Dutch TT is run...

, Netherlands.

Van Zeist studied the vegetational history and peat bogs of southeastern Drenthe

Drenthe

Drenthe is a province of the Netherlands, located in the north-east of the country. The capital city is Assen. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and Germany to the east.-History:Drenthe, unlike many other parts of the Netherlands, has been a...

 and concluded that Neolithic settlements had begun there around 5000 BC. He also concluded that the prehistoric disc wheels

Wheel

A wheel is a device that allows heavy objects to be moved easily through rotating on an axle through its center, facilitating movement or transportation while supporting a load, or performing labor in machines. Common examples found in transport applications. A wheel, together with an axle,...

 found in the Netherlands dated to at least the Neolithic period. Van Zeist also conducted analytical studies of pollen core

Pollen core

A pollen core is a core sample of a medium containing a stratigraphic sequence of pollen. Analysis of the type and frequency of the pollen in each layer is used to study changes in climate or land use using regional vegetation as a proxy...

s and charred seeds and fruits from archaeological excavations at Gasselte

Gasselte

Gasselte is a town in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Aa en Hunze, and lies about 16 km east of Assen.Gasselte was a separate municipality until 1998, when it became a part of Aa en Hunze....

, Noordbarge

Noordbarge

Noordbarge is a village in the Netherlands and it is part of the Emmen municipality in Drenthe. Noordbarge has an altitude of 19 meters .-External links:*...

, Odoorn, Peelo and Wijster

Wijster

Wijster is a town in the Dutch province of Drenthe. It is a part of the municipality of Midden-Drenthe, and lies about 11 km north of Hoogeveen.In 2001, the town of Wijster had 462 inhabitants...

. Since 1983, he has been a member of The Royal Dutch Academy of Sciences.

Near East research

In 1975, van Zeist began work on establishing the climatalogical record for the Near East with pollen analyses from Iran

Iran

Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...

 and Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. Along with other studies he concluded that there had only been relatively minor fluctuations in the climate of this area since 5500 BC. He conducted paleobotanical studies and dating analyses at various Near Eastern archaeological sites of key importance such as Tell Ramad

Tell Ramad

Tell Ramad is a prehistoric, Neolithic tell at the foot of Mount Hermon, about southwest of Damascus in Syria. The tell was the site of a small village of , which was first settled in the late eighth millennium....

, Tell Ghoraife

Tell Ghoraifé

Tell Ghoraifé is a prehistoric, Neolithic tell, about east of Damascus, Syria. The tell was the site of a small village of , which was first settled in the early eighth millennium BC....

, El Kowm, Ras Shamra, Cayonu

Çayönü

Çayönü is a Neolithic settlement in southern Turkey inhabited around 7200 to 6600 BC. It is located forty kilometres north-west of Diyarbakır, at the foot of the Taurus mountains...

, Ganj Dareh

Ganj Dareh

Ganj Dareh is a Neolithic settlement in the Iranian Kurdistan portion of Iran...

, Mureybet

Mureybet

Mureybet is a tell, or ancient settlement mound, located on the west bank of the Euphrates in Ar-Raqqah Governorate, northern Syria. The site was excavated between 1964 and 1974 and has since disappeared under the rising waters of Lake Assad...

 and Tell Aswad

Tell Aswad

Tell Aswad , Su-uk-su, Shuksa or Tell Sukas is a large prehistoric, Neolithic Tell, about in size, located around from Damascus in Syria, on a tributary of the Balikh River at the eastern end of the village of Jdeidet el Khass.-Excavation:...

. At the latter site near Mount Hermon 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....

, he made a notable find of the earliest cultivated Emmer

Emmer

Emmer wheat , also known as farro especially in Italy, is a low yielding, awned wheat. It was one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East...

 Wheat yet found anywhere on Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

 to date, along with what he considered to be domesticated pea

Pea

A pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...

s and lentil

Lentil

The lentil is an edible pulse. It is a bushy annual plant of the legume family, grown for its lens-shaped seeds...

s along with other grains such as einkorn and barley

Barley

Barley is a major cereal grain, a member of the grass family. It serves as a major animal fodder, as a base malt for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods...

at later stages.