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

“新石器革命”标志着人类史前史的一个重要转折点。植物和动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道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，因为它有可能揭示引发这一变化的因素。在阿琳·罗森教授的指导下，莫妮卡·尼克莱德斯将调查黎凡特东部（今天的约旦）旧石器时代（23,000-11,500 cal. BP）植物利用的长期模式。在此期间，由于末次盛冰期（LGM），该地区经历了极端的气候变化。研究很少关注这一时期狩猎采集者广泛的植物使用策略和适应性，而是关注后来的谷物种植和农业的起源。部分原因是，除了以色列的Ohalo II外，旧石器时代遗址的植物遗迹保存不佳。为了解决这个问题，尼克莱德斯女士将比较来自黎凡特东部9个地点和黎巴嫩1个地点的更强壮的微观植物遗骸（植物岩和淀粉）与奥哈洛2号保存完好的植物遗骸。考虑到调查地点的时间和区域宽度，该项目提供了一个独特的平台来考虑变化的环境和过去狩猎采集者植物使用之间的动态关系。尽管经过近100年的考古调查，从谷物采集者到谷物耕种者的过渡过程和时间仍然不清楚。Ohalo II将最初的饮食转向谷物的时间比之前认为的早了1万年。尼克莱德斯女士的研究将首次对奥哈洛二号的石器和沉积物进行微生物学分析。通过整合宏观植物学和微观植物学证据，她将开发一种创新的野生植物使用模型来研究石器时代人与植物的相互作用。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。通过探索上石器时代人们采用的多样而复杂的植物收集策略，本论文将重新考虑人们在黎凡特史前时期看待狩猎采集者的方式。它不仅将扩大对旧石器时代植物利用的理解，而且更广泛地了解狩猎采集者对不断变化的环境的恢复能力和适应能力。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。这个项目将产生广泛的影响。这项研究有助于若干大型国际发掘项目，这些项目需要来自美国、联合王国、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，该项目的结果将在同行评审的出版物中传播，原始数据将在网上分发，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。它将留下淀粉比较收集，增加现有的植物岩比较收集，并为本科生提供亲身体验考古植物学研究的机会，同时接受基本的微生物实验室和鉴定培训。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，为未来的学生研究人员留下富有成效的遗产。

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.