The botanical reference collection was first established by Gordon Charles Hillman (1943-2018) between 1970 and 1974 to be a source of reference for archaeobotanical and environmental studies of the region. Until the mid 1990s, improvements and additions to the botanical collection, and the identification of Hillman’s herbarium specimens, were made by several scholars. The collection includes herbarium, wood (xylarium) and charcoal collections. 

• Work to upload the full data from our Herbarium Digitalisation Project (PRJ229) (2020-2022) is ongoing. You can access the digital collection here.

• BIAA Herbarium is registered in the Index Herbariorum with the herbarium code BIA: See here.

Our seed collection was transferred to the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in 2020. More information on the seed collection can be found here. 

• A list of seeds can be found in the Seed Collection 

• For archaeobotany studies, a related bibliography created by Naomi Miller can be found here.

• The article on Gordon Charles Hillman's contributions to the field of archaeobotany by Andrew Fairbairn and Mark Nesbitt can be found here.

Please note that for some specimens, the location of the Can Hasan ancient site was mismarked as 'Elazığ' by the collector. The site was in fact in the Karaman district of 'Konya' at the time. Later in 1989, Karaman was given its own city status. Therefore, in the database, you will find Can Hasan under the location heading 'Karaman'.

Please also note that dates provided in the 'Other Date' section refer to sample determination date, unless otherwise stated.   

For Herbarium specimens, the Turkish common name is provided alongside the scientific name. Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi - Damarlı Bitkiler (Checklist of Vascular Plants of Türkiye) standards were used for the correct spelling of the Turkish common names of plants. 

In our Botanical Reference Collection, the scientific plant names listed on the original collectors’ labels were always preserved, and the taxonomic status compared with national and international references such as the IPNI(International Plant Names Index), GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility), POWO (Plants of the World Online), Bizim Bitkiler, TÜBİVES, Türkiye Bitkileri Listesi - Damarlı Bitkiler, Flora of Türkiye and Resimli Türkiye Florası(Illustrated Flora of Türkiye).