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Papers by Wilma Wetterstrom

Research paper thumbnail of Climate, diet and population at a prehistoric pueblo in New Mexico

Research paper thumbnail of L’apparition de l’agriculture en Égypte

Archéo-Nil. Revue de la société pour l'étude des cultures prépharaoniques de la vallée du Nil, 1996

Research paper thumbnail of Food, Diet, and Population at Prehistoric Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, New Mexico

An academic directory and search engine.

Research paper thumbnail of Foraging and farming in Egypt: the transition from hunting and gathering to horticulture in the Nile valley

Routledge eBooks, May 22, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of La chasse-cueillette et l’agriculture en Égypte : transition de la chasse et de la cueillette à l’horticulture dans la vallée du Nil

Archéo-Nil. Revue de la société pour l'étude des cultures prépharaoniques de la vallée du Nil, 1996

Notre travail consistera à suivre la voie prise par les chasseurs-cueilleurs égyptiens pour passe... more Notre travail consistera à suivre la voie prise par les chasseurs-cueilleurs égyptiens pour passer de la chasse et de la cueillette à l’agriculture. Pendant l’épipaléolithique, ces chasseurs-cueilleurs appliquaient une stratégie de subsistance qui s’était probablement développé au cours du pléistocène final dans un environnement où les ressources alimentaires manquaient cruellement. Ils dépendaient de racines et de poissons tout en tirant partie d’une grande variété de plantes et d’animaux sauvages qui assuraient très probablement leur survie pendant les périodes de pénurie. On insistera, ici, sur l’idée que la domestication des plantes et des bêtes fut tout d’abord conçue comme un complément de sécurité faces aux ressources habituelles et aléatoires des chasseurs-cueilleurs. Même si ces ressources étaient, à certaines périodes de l’année abondantes dans les régions marécageuses nilotiques, il n’en demeurait pas moins des saisons de grande «faim ». En particulier lors de crues du Nil exceptionnellement fortes, faibles ou prématurées. En effet, les caprices du Nil étaient la plus grande menace l’approvisionnement de base de ces chasseurs-cueilleurs, tant le volume des eaux d’inondation — ainsi que le moment et la durée des crues — pouvaient varier de manière importante.

Research paper thumbnail of Kom el-Hisn’s Plant Remains

Research paper thumbnail of Kom el-Hisn’s Plant Remains (with Appendix 1)

Research paper thumbnail of Special Studies in the Archeology of the Hueco Bolson

An academic directory and search engine.

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: Food, Fuels, and Fields: Progress in African Archaeobotany

Research paper thumbnail of The Agricultural Economy of an Old Kingdom Town in Egypt's West Delta: Insights from the Plant Remains

Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Jul 1, 1988

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact

Research paper thumbnail of La chasse-cueillette et l’agriculture en Égypte : transition de la chasse et de la cueillette à l’horticulture dans la vallée du Nil

Archéo-Nil. Revue de la société pour l'étude des cultures prépharaoniques de la vallée du Nil, 1996

Research paper thumbnail of L’apparition de l’agriculture en Égypte

Archéo-Nil. Revue de la société pour l'étude des cultures prépharaoniques de la vallée du Nil

Research paper thumbnail of Sardara (Cagliari). Preliminary Report of Excavations 1975-1978 of the Nuraghe Ortu Comidu

Situation et historique des recherches dans ce nouraghe reutilise comme fortification contre les ... more Situation et historique des recherches dans ce nouraghe reutilise comme fortification contre les invasions puniques. Etude des structures et du mobilier, caracterise par un melange d'elements nuragiques, grecs, puniques et romains. Mise en evidence d'une construction en plusieurs phases, a partir de 1630 B.C. Absence de confirmation d'une activite metallurgique

Research paper thumbnail of Cognitive Systems, Food Patterns, and Paleoethnobotany in The Nature and Status of Ethnobotany

Les habitants de l'Hueco Bolson (plateaux du Nouveau Mexique central, du Texas occidental et ... more Les habitants de l'Hueco Bolson (plateaux du Nouveau Mexique central, du Texas occidental et du Mexique Septentrional). Periode: de 6000 av.J.-C. a 1400 apr. J.-C. Etude du systeme cognitif de ces populations d'apres leurs changements d'alimentation accompagnant l'evolution de l'agriculture.

Research paper thumbnail of Special studies in the archeology of the Hueco Bolson

Research paper thumbnail of Annales archéologiques arabes syriennes, Cinquantenaire, 2002, in press. Revising the Contours of History at Tell Leilan

Northern Mesopotamia’s low grain yield costs and high land transport costs were fundamental force... more Northern Mesopotamia’s low grain yield costs and high land transport costs were fundamental forces behind early state growth in the fifth-fourth millennia BC (Weiss 1983, 1986, 1997). That development, as well as the southern Mesopotamian Uruk colonization in northern Mesopotamia, was terminated by the 5.2 ka BP abrupt climate change that persisted for two centuries (Weiss 2001). In its wake, northern Mesopotamia underwent the Ninevite 5 experience: four hundred years of reduced settlement size, limited political consolidation, and abridged contact with southern Mesopotamia (Weiss and Rova eds. 2002). In the Leilan IIId period, ca. 2600-2400 BC, at the end of the Ninevite 5 period, Leilan suddenly grew from village to city size, 90 hectares, and its politico-economic organization was transformed into a state apparatus (Weiss 1990). The reasons for this secondary state development are still unclear, but seems to have occurred synchronously across northern Mesopotamia and induced, bri...

Research paper thumbnail of Foraging and farming in Egypt: the transition from hunting and gathering to horticulture in the Nile valley

The Archaeology of Africa, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Climate, diet and population at a prehistoric pueblo in New Mexico

Issues in Environmental Archaeology, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of Kom el-Hisn’s Plant Remains (with Appendix 1)

Kom el-Hisn (ca. 2500–1900 BC)

Research paper thumbnail of Series Editors

in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photoco... more in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior consent of the publisher. ISBN: 0-9779370-8-9

Research paper thumbnail of Climate, diet and population at a prehistoric pueblo in New Mexico

Research paper thumbnail of L’apparition de l’agriculture en Égypte

Archéo-Nil. Revue de la société pour l'étude des cultures prépharaoniques de la vallée du Nil, 1996

Research paper thumbnail of Food, Diet, and Population at Prehistoric Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, New Mexico

An academic directory and search engine.

Research paper thumbnail of Foraging and farming in Egypt: the transition from hunting and gathering to horticulture in the Nile valley

Routledge eBooks, May 22, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of La chasse-cueillette et l’agriculture en Égypte : transition de la chasse et de la cueillette à l’horticulture dans la vallée du Nil

Archéo-Nil. Revue de la société pour l'étude des cultures prépharaoniques de la vallée du Nil, 1996

Notre travail consistera à suivre la voie prise par les chasseurs-cueilleurs égyptiens pour passe... more Notre travail consistera à suivre la voie prise par les chasseurs-cueilleurs égyptiens pour passer de la chasse et de la cueillette à l’agriculture. Pendant l’épipaléolithique, ces chasseurs-cueilleurs appliquaient une stratégie de subsistance qui s’était probablement développé au cours du pléistocène final dans un environnement où les ressources alimentaires manquaient cruellement. Ils dépendaient de racines et de poissons tout en tirant partie d’une grande variété de plantes et d’animaux sauvages qui assuraient très probablement leur survie pendant les périodes de pénurie. On insistera, ici, sur l’idée que la domestication des plantes et des bêtes fut tout d’abord conçue comme un complément de sécurité faces aux ressources habituelles et aléatoires des chasseurs-cueilleurs. Même si ces ressources étaient, à certaines périodes de l’année abondantes dans les régions marécageuses nilotiques, il n’en demeurait pas moins des saisons de grande «faim ». En particulier lors de crues du Nil exceptionnellement fortes, faibles ou prématurées. En effet, les caprices du Nil étaient la plus grande menace l’approvisionnement de base de ces chasseurs-cueilleurs, tant le volume des eaux d’inondation — ainsi que le moment et la durée des crues — pouvaient varier de manière importante.

Research paper thumbnail of Kom el-Hisn’s Plant Remains

Research paper thumbnail of Kom el-Hisn’s Plant Remains (with Appendix 1)

Research paper thumbnail of Special Studies in the Archeology of the Hueco Bolson

An academic directory and search engine.

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: Food, Fuels, and Fields: Progress in African Archaeobotany

Research paper thumbnail of The Agricultural Economy of an Old Kingdom Town in Egypt's West Delta: Insights from the Plant Remains

Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Jul 1, 1988

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, a... more JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact

Research paper thumbnail of La chasse-cueillette et l’agriculture en Égypte : transition de la chasse et de la cueillette à l’horticulture dans la vallée du Nil

Archéo-Nil. Revue de la société pour l'étude des cultures prépharaoniques de la vallée du Nil, 1996

Research paper thumbnail of L’apparition de l’agriculture en Égypte

Archéo-Nil. Revue de la société pour l'étude des cultures prépharaoniques de la vallée du Nil

Research paper thumbnail of Sardara (Cagliari). Preliminary Report of Excavations 1975-1978 of the Nuraghe Ortu Comidu

Situation et historique des recherches dans ce nouraghe reutilise comme fortification contre les ... more Situation et historique des recherches dans ce nouraghe reutilise comme fortification contre les invasions puniques. Etude des structures et du mobilier, caracterise par un melange d'elements nuragiques, grecs, puniques et romains. Mise en evidence d'une construction en plusieurs phases, a partir de 1630 B.C. Absence de confirmation d'une activite metallurgique

Research paper thumbnail of Cognitive Systems, Food Patterns, and Paleoethnobotany in The Nature and Status of Ethnobotany

Les habitants de l'Hueco Bolson (plateaux du Nouveau Mexique central, du Texas occidental et ... more Les habitants de l'Hueco Bolson (plateaux du Nouveau Mexique central, du Texas occidental et du Mexique Septentrional). Periode: de 6000 av.J.-C. a 1400 apr. J.-C. Etude du systeme cognitif de ces populations d'apres leurs changements d'alimentation accompagnant l'evolution de l'agriculture.

Research paper thumbnail of Special studies in the archeology of the Hueco Bolson

Research paper thumbnail of Annales archéologiques arabes syriennes, Cinquantenaire, 2002, in press. Revising the Contours of History at Tell Leilan

Northern Mesopotamia’s low grain yield costs and high land transport costs were fundamental force... more Northern Mesopotamia’s low grain yield costs and high land transport costs were fundamental forces behind early state growth in the fifth-fourth millennia BC (Weiss 1983, 1986, 1997). That development, as well as the southern Mesopotamian Uruk colonization in northern Mesopotamia, was terminated by the 5.2 ka BP abrupt climate change that persisted for two centuries (Weiss 2001). In its wake, northern Mesopotamia underwent the Ninevite 5 experience: four hundred years of reduced settlement size, limited political consolidation, and abridged contact with southern Mesopotamia (Weiss and Rova eds. 2002). In the Leilan IIId period, ca. 2600-2400 BC, at the end of the Ninevite 5 period, Leilan suddenly grew from village to city size, 90 hectares, and its politico-economic organization was transformed into a state apparatus (Weiss 1990). The reasons for this secondary state development are still unclear, but seems to have occurred synchronously across northern Mesopotamia and induced, bri...

Research paper thumbnail of Foraging and farming in Egypt: the transition from hunting and gathering to horticulture in the Nile valley

The Archaeology of Africa, 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Climate, diet and population at a prehistoric pueblo in New Mexico

Issues in Environmental Archaeology, 2017

Research paper thumbnail of Kom el-Hisn’s Plant Remains (with Appendix 1)

Kom el-Hisn (ca. 2500–1900 BC)

Research paper thumbnail of Series Editors

in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photoco... more in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior consent of the publisher. ISBN: 0-9779370-8-9

Research paper thumbnail of Food, Diet, and Population at Prehistoric Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, New Mexico

Food, Diet, and Population at Prehistoric Arroyo Hondo Pueblo, New Mexico, Arroyo Hondo Archeological Series, Volume 6, 1986

This sixth volume in the Arroyo Hondo series provides information on the food, diet, and populati... more This sixth volume in the Arroyo Hondo series provides information on the food, diet, and population analysis of this large prehistoric pueblo located just southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Research paper thumbnail of Kom el-Hisn: An Ancient Settlement in the Nile Delta

This volume presents the findings of three seasons of excavation in the 1980s at Kom el-Hisn " th... more This volume presents the findings of three seasons of excavation in the 1980s at Kom el-Hisn " the mound of the fortress, " in the northwest Nile Delta. This provincial community was often in the orbit of Memphis, the capital and administrative center of Egypt's Old Kingdom Period. Small areas of occupations of the First Intermediate and early Middle Kingdom periods were also excavated. One of the goals of the excavations was to complement and compare the substantial ancient textual record of this era with Kom el-Hisn's archaeological record because such evidence is sparse for Lower Egypt between about 2500 and 1800 BC. The findings presented here reveal the complexity of small Old Kingdom settlements in the context of the Memphite state organization and shed light on the changing relationships of this administrative center with its provincial communities.Kom el-Hisn's faunal, floral, lithic, and architectural remains are presented and discussed in detail, as are some theoretical and methodological issues relevant to this research.

Research paper thumbnail of Contents, status, and symbolism: the study of residues from imported jars at Old Kingdom Giza

Journal of Ancient Egyptian Interconnections, 2023

ALSO ON OPEN ACCESS! https://egyptianexpedition.org/articles/contents-status-and-symbolism/ Thr... more ALSO ON OPEN ACCESS! https://egyptianexpedition.org/articles/contents-status-and-symbolism/
Throughout the 4th to 6th Dynasties of the Old Kingdom (c. 2613-2181 BCE), liquid commodities were imported in ceramic combed jars made in workshops in the Byblos region, enabling proximal geographic identification of the original contents. Results of scientific, archaeometric, and archaeological research on a large corpus of jars found in elite tombs at Giza, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, reveal a complex story of the use and reuse of the jars and that very little remains of the original and even secondary contents. Rather, from the moment of production, the jars had a complex itinerary. At different times, jars were invested with diverse meanings that included their original use as a transport and product container, a symbol of royal power, an elite status symbol, and, more recently, a 20th-century museum artifact. It is argued that a number of jars were used more than once before final deposition in elite tombs, where they were provided as gifts to high officials and royal family members. The jars acquired the significance of prestige markers in the status framework of Egyptian elites, signifying proximity to royal grace and favor. As a result of ancient use and modern interventions, the original contents of the jars are difficult to discern, with wider implications for how to characterize the liquid commodities trade with the region.