Marijke van der Veen, is a Dutch

archaeobotanist Paleoethnobotany (also spelled palaeoethnobotany), or archaeobotany, is the study of past human-plant interactions through the recovery and analysis of ancient plant remains. Both terms are synonymous, though paleoethnobotany (from the Greek words ...

and Emeritus Professor of Archaeology at the

University of Leicester , mottoeng = So that they may have life , established = , type = public research university , endowment = £20.0 million , budget = £326 million , chancellor = David Willetts , vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah , head_labe ...

Biography

Van der Veen studied History and Archaeology at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

. During this time she worked together with Jan Lanting on the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

barrow landscape, and their circular post settings, at the

Hooghalen Hooghalen is a villageBijhouwer J.T.P. (1977). "The Dutch Landscape." Amsterdam: Cosmos. in the municipality Midden-Drenthe, in the Dutch province Drenthe. In Drenthe it is also called '' Hoal'n '' or '' Hoalen '', but then people often mean the ...

-estate in the Dutch province of

Drenthe Drenthe () is a province of the Netherlands located in the northeastern part of the country. It is bordered by Overijssel to the south, Friesland to the west, Groningen to the north, and the German state of Lower Saxony to the east. As of Nov ...

. At the

University of Sheffield , mottoeng = To discover the causes of things , established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions: – Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield , type = Pu ...

, she studied for a MA in Economic Archaeology and a PhD in Archaeobotany. Following her PhD, Van der Veen worked at

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

as the

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

advisor for environmental archaeology in northern England. In 1992 Van der Veen joined the School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester and was promoted to Professor in 2005. Her research has focussed on the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

and Roman periods in Britain, and Roman and Islamic periods in

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

. Early work established statistical methodologies for archaeobotanical analysis, and pioneered the sampling of archaeological sites in northern Britain. This work demonstrated that

societies in northern

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

were undertaking cereal cultivation. More recently, Van der Veen has reconsidered the interpretation of the density of charred crop remains at Iron Age sites, and the comparison of modes of preservation. Van der Veen has studied the food supply to Roman quarry sites

Mons Claudianus Mons Claudianus was a Roman quarry in the eastern desert of Egypt. It consisted of a garrison, a quarrying site, and civilian and workers' quarters. Granodiorite was mined for the Roman Empire where it was used as a building material. Mons Claud ...

and

Mons Porphyrites Mons Porphyrites (today Jabal Abu Dukhkhan) is the mountainous site of a group of ancient quarries in the Red Sea Hills of the Eastern Desert in Egypt. Under the Roman Empire, they were the only known source of the purple "imperial" variety of por ...

in the eastern desert of Egypt, which showed the wide range of foods grown and imported to these remote sites. A major archaeobotanical study of food remains from the port at Quseir al-Qadim, recovered from the 1999-2003

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

excavations, showed new insights to Roman and Islamic trade. Finds included garlic gloves, citrus rind, banana skins, and black pepper. Her study on Quseir al-Qadim has been described as showing "her ability to recount fascinating botanical investigations of the past in a stimulating and thorough way". Her recent work has focussed on the dispersal of imported plant foods, in Roman Britain, and the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

spice trade. Van der Veen received a

Leverhulme Trust The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1925 under the will of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), with the instruction that its resources should be used to suppo ...

Major Research Fellowship (2008-2011), and a Research Fellowship at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies (2011–12) for the project ''Seeds of Change''. Van der Veen has worked to advance archaeobotanical work in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and has edited a proceedings of the International Workshop on African Archaeobotany and several issues of the journal ''

World Archaeology ''World Archaeology'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering all aspects of archaeology. It was established in 1969 and originally published triannually by Routledge & Kegan Paul. In 2004 it changed to a quarterly publication schedule while ...

.'' In 2002 Van der Veen was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries.

Selected publications

*2014. Van der Veen, M. The materiality of plants: plant-people entanglements. ''World Archaeology'' 46(5): 799-812. . *2011. Van der Veen, M. ''Consumption, Trade and Innovation: Exploring the Botanical Remains from the Roman and Islamic Ports at Quseir al-Qadim, Egypt''. Frankfurt: Africa Magna Verlag. *2010. Van der Veen, M. Agricultural innovation: invention and adoption or change and adaptation? ''World Archaeology'' 42(1): 1-12. . *2008. Van der Veen, M. Food as embodied material culture – diversity and change in plant food consumption in Roman Britain. ''Journal of Roman Archaeology'' 21: 83-110. *2008. Livarda, A. and M. van der Veen "Social access and dispersal of condiments in North-West Europe from the Roman to the medieval period." ''Vegetation History and Archaeobotany'' 17(S1): 201-209. *2007. Van der Veen, M. "Formation processes of desiccated and carbonized plant remains-the identification of routine practice." Journal of Archaeological Science 34: 968-990. *2005. Van der Veen, M. Gardens and fields: the intensity and scale of food production. ''World Archaeology'' 37(2): 157-163. . *1998. Van der Veen, M. A life of luxury in the desert? The food and fodder supply to Mons Claudianus. ''Journal of Roman Archaeology'' 11: 101-116. *1992. Van der Veen, M. ''Crop Husbandry Regimes. An Archaeobotanical Study of Farming in Northern England: 1000 BC - AD 500''. Sheffield, J. R. Collis Publications. *1989. Van der Veen, M. and Lanting, J.N. "A group of tumuli on the 'Hooghalen' estate near Hijken (municipality of Beilen, province of Drenthe, the Netherlands)." ''Palaeohistoria'' 31: 191-234. *1982. Van der Veen, M. and Fieller, N. Sampling seeds. ''Journal of Archaeological Science'' 9: 287-298.

References

External links

Full publication list
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veen, Marijke van der Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Academics of the University of Leicester Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British women archaeologists Dutch women archaeologists Archaeobotanists Alumni of the University of Sheffield British women historians Dutch women historians