April Nowell

Iam a Paleolithic archaeologist whose research focuses on the origins of art, symbol use, and language and on the emergence of modern cognition and modern human behavior. These interests have led to three research paths. The first is the study of early examples of art. Specifically, I take a taphonomic approach to these early objects to see if they are indeed anthropogenic (human made) or the result of natural processes such as root marks, animal trampling and the like. In the context of this research I have worked with colleagues on objects such as the Berekhat Ram artifact, the so called Neandertal bone "flute" and putative Neandertal engravings from Molodova I in the Ukraine. Second, in recent years, I have become interested in the relationship between ecology, climate change, life history strategies and human evolution. Some recent research I have been involved in looks at life history variables in the Acheulian and their impact on the archaeological record of this time period. My co-authors and I focus on the relationships between population size, transmission of culture and rate of innovation. In a larger sense this research is also related to my interest in the "archaeology of children" and the question of finding the individual in the remote past of the Paleolithic. The third is a focus on Neandertal lifeways and capabilities and the reasons for their extinction in the Levant (a region that includes Jordan, Israel, Syria and Lebanon). My research in cognitive archaeology and my fieldwork in Jordan (described below) are outgrowths of this interest.

Current Projects
I direct an international team of researchers and students in the excavation and analysis of the Druze Marsh Paleolithic Project in North Azraq, Jordan. Europe and the Levant are the only two regions in the world that were occupied either simultaneously or alternately by both Neandertals and modern humans. While both regions are exciting places to work I have chosen to conduct my research in the Levant for two reasons. First, the possible overlap between Neandertals and humans may be at least five times longer here than in Europe. Second, situated as this region is between Africa and Eurasia the Levant has served a biogeographic corridor or crossroad for species (including hominins) moving between these continents for thousands of years.

In order to contribute to the study of Neandertal extinction in the Levant approximately 50,000 years ago we are researching their settlement patterns in relation to local climatic variation, and changes in subsistence strategies and tool technologies among other variables. In other words, in order to understand why they died we are trying to understand how they lived in this region of the Levant.

Sites that form part of the Druze Marsh Paleolithic project are located on the Northeastern end of the former Druze Marsh in the Azraq basin in NE Jordan. The marsh dried out completely in the 1980's as a result of excessive water pumping but for the past millennia it was a marsh that expanded at times into a paleolake. Hominins were likely visiting this area because of the birds, waterfowl and other animals that were attracted to this water source –it was literally an oasis in the desert. The Druze Marsh site is stratified both horizontally and vertically as we have deposits that relate to marsh levels, lake levels and beaches/shorelines. Students working on this project are engaged in projects such as pollen analysis (to reconstruct the ancient environment as well as hominin diets) and geomorphological modeling of the paleoshorelines.

There is also an applied aspect to our project. Jordan is the fifth water poorest country in the world and is currently experiencing its worst water shortage in 50 years. Building on the work of Dr. Gary Rollefson and his colleagues, we are working with the managers of the Shaumari Nature Reserve and Azraq Wetland Reserve to document and understand the complex relationships that existed in the Pleistocene between animals, humans and water in this fragile oasis ecosystem.

This project is funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Phone: 250 721 7054 (office phone number)
Address: Department of Anthropology
University of Victoria
Cornett Building Room B228
3800 Finnerty Road (Ring Road)
Victoria, BC, Canada
V8P 5C2