Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Resilience And Adaptation To Abruptly Dynamic Environments

“新石器时代革命”标志着人类史前的一个重要转折点。动植物的驯化提供了更多的生存资源，这反过来又为我们今天所知的文明和复杂社会的出现奠定了基础。这项研究项目意义重大，因为它有可能阐明引发这一变化的因素。在Arlene Rosen教授的指导下，Monica Nicolades将研究早期石器时代(23,000-11,500卡)的长期模式。BP)工厂--在东莱万特，即现在的约旦使用。在此期间，由于末次冰盛期(LGM)，该地区经历了气候的极端变化。研究很少集中于这一时期广泛的狩猎-采集植物利用战略和适应，而是侧重于后来的谷物种植和农业的起源。这在一定程度上是由于除以色列的欧哈洛二世外，旧石器时代遗址的植物遗骸保存得很差。为了解决这个问题，尼科莱德斯女士将比较来自东部黎凡特9个地点和黎巴嫩1个地点的更强大的微小植物遗骸(植物硅体和淀粉)和保存完好的欧哈洛II的植物遗骸。考虑到调查地点的时间和地区广度，这个项目提供了一个独特的平台，来考虑环境变化和过去狩猎采集植物使用之间的动态关系。尽管进行了近100年的考古研究，但从谷物采集者到谷物种植者的转变过程和时间仍然不清楚。Ohalo II将最初的饮食转变为谷物，比之前认识的要早10000年。尼科莱德斯的研究将首次对Ohalo II的石器和沉积物进行微植物学分析。通过整合宏观植物学和微植物学证据，她将开发一种创新的野生植物利用模型，以研究旧石器时代的人与植物之间的相互作用。这项研究将为史前的一个决定性时刻提供直接证据，并将展示植物资源是如何管理、收集、加工和消费的。通过探索早期石器时代人们所采用的多样化和复杂的植物采集策略，这篇论文将重新思考人们如何看待黎凡特史前的狩猎-采集者。它不仅将扩大对旧石器时代植物用途的了解，而且更广泛地讲，将扩大狩猎采集对不断变化的环境的适应能力。重要的是，这项研究将为当前气候变化的挑战提供相关的见解。这一项目将产生广泛的影响。这项研究为几个大型国际挖掘项目做出了贡献，这些项目需要来自美国、英国、欧洲、以色列和约旦的技术和区域专家共同努力。这些工作关系产生了一定程度的合作，并允许合作者分享他们的技能、方法和技术专长。重要的是，该项目的成果将在同行评议的出版物中传播，原始数据将在网上传播，供公众使用。该项目还将为德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的设施和学生体验做出贡献。它将保留淀粉比较收藏，增加现有的植硅体比较收藏，并为本科生提供亲身体验考古植物学研究的机会，同时接受基本的微植物学实验室和鉴定培训。此外，为该项目购买的实验室用品将留在德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校的环境考古实验室，这是未来学生研究人员富有成效的遗产。

The "Neolithic Revolution" marks a crucial turning point in human prehistory. The domestication of plants and animals provided increased subsistence resources which, in turn, set the stage for the emergence of civilization and complex society as we know it today. This research project is significant because it has the potential to shed light on the factors which initiated this change.Under the guidance of Professor Arlene Rosen, Monica Nicolaides will investigate the long-term patterns of Epipaleolithic (23,000-11,500 cal. BP) plant-use in the Eastern Levant, present day Jordan. During this period the region experienced extreme shifts in climate due to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Studies have rarely focused on the wide range of hunter-gatherer plant-use strategies and adaptations during this period, focusing instead on later cereal cultivation and the origins of agriculture. This is due, in part, to the poor preservation of plant remains at Epipaleolithic sites, with the exception of Ohalo II, Israel. To address this, Ms. Nicolaides will compare the more robust microscopic plant remains (phytoliths and starches) from nine sites in the eastern Levant and one site in Lebanon, to the well-preserved plant remains at Ohalo II. Given the temporal and regional breadth of the sites investigated this project provides a unique platform to consider the dynamic relationship between changing environment and hunter-gatherer plant-use in the past.In spite of nearly 100 years of archaeological inquiry, the processes and timings of the transition, from cereal-gatherer to cereal-cultivator, remain unclear. Ohalo II places the initial dietary shift to grains 10,000 years earlier than previously recognized. Ms. Nicolaides' research will provide the first microbotanical analysis of both stone tools and sediments from Ohalo II. By integrating macrobotanical and microbotanical evidence, she will develop an innovative wild plant use model to study Epipaleolithic people-plant interactions. This research will present direct evidence for a defining moment in prehistory and will show how plant resources were managed, collected, processed and consumed. By exploring the diverse and sophisticated plant-collection strategies employed by Epipaleolithic peoples this dissertation will reconsider the way one sees hunter-gatherers in the prehistory of the Levant. It will not only expand understanding of Epipaleolithic plant-use, but more broadly, hunter-gatherer resilience and adaptation to changing environments. Importantly, this research will offer relevant insight for the current challenges of climate change.This project will have a broad impact. The research contributes to several large international excavation projects that require technical and regional specialists from the United States, United Kingdom, Europe, Israel and Jordan to work together. These working relations engender a level of cooperation and allow collaborators to share their skills, methods and technical expertise. Importantly, the results of this project will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications and the raw data will be distributed online for public use. This project will also contribute to the facilities and student experience at the University of Texas at Austin. It will leave a starch comparative collection, add to the existing phytolith comparative collection and provide undergraduate students with an opportunity to experience archaeobotanical research first-hand, while receiving basic microbotanical laboratory and identification training. In addition, the lab supplies purchased for this project will be left at the Environmental Archaeology Laboratory, at the University of Texas at Austin, a productive legacy to future student researchers.