Nancy R. Coinman
Dr. Coinman is Associate Professor of Anthropology.
Her current research interests include the Upper Paleolithic of the
Levant where she has been conducting field research since 1984. Between
1997 and 2000, she co-directed the Eastern Hasa Late Pleistocene Project
(EHLPP) in west-central Jordan with D.I. Olszewski (University of
Pennsylvania Museum), and funded by the National Science Foundation,
the Wenner-Gren Foundation, and the National Geographic Society. Field
investigations were focused on late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer sites
in the eastern Wadi al-Hasa (ca. 40,000-12,000 years ago), Dr. Coinman’s
current research is concentrated on understanding the intersection
of settlement patterns, subsistence strategies, and technological
organization at Upper Paleolithic sites in the Wadi al-Hasa. Long-term
goals of the research seek to identify and disentangle the subtle
archaeological signatures of different but interdependent human organizational
strategies by linking subsistence strategies more explicitly with
hunting and processing technologies and with specific site types and
changes in settlement organization.
Dr. Coinman conducts laboratory analyses on the lithic assemblages
from Upper Paleolithic sites in the EHLPP lab in the Department of
Anthropology (325 Curtiss Hall). She has done archaeological field
work on prehistoric and historic sites in San Diego County, Mogollon
sites in New Mexico, Hohokam and Sinagua sites in Arizona, and Neolithic
and Paleolithic sites in Jordan. She is the editor of a two-volume
monograph on the archaeology of the Wadi al-Hasa published in 1998
and 2000 by Arizona State University's Anthropological Research Papers
(ARP). In addition to research interests in Near Eastern Paleolithic
archaeology and lithic analysis, Dr. Coinman also teaches undergraduate
and graduate courses in the department: Introduction to Biological
Anthropology and Archaeology, Archaeology, World Prehistory, Archaeological
Lab Methods, Andean Archaeology, Southwestern Archaeology, and the
graduate Seminar in Archaeology.
Research
Archaeological research on the paleolithic of Jordan is part of the
Eastern Hasa Late Pleistocene Project, a project conducting surveys
and excavations in the Wadi al-Hasa, west-central Jordan , which has
been co-directed by Nancy Coinman ( Iowa State University ) and Deb
Olszewski ( University of Pennsylvania ). During the summers of 1997,
1998, and 2000, investigations were carried out at a series of Upper
and Epipaleolithic sites spanning the time period of ca. 40,000 to
12,000 bp. Long-term research goals of the project have been focused
on understanding ancient human adaptations during the Late Pleistocene
when Lake Hasa and a series of smaller lakes, ponds and marshes dominated
the landscape of the eastern end of the Hasa. Archaeological surveys
and excavations at open sites around the ancient shoreline of the
lake and at rockshelters in the nearby tributary drainages are investigating
changes in site location, hunting strategies, and stone tool technologies
as the environment in the Hasa responded to global climatic warming
at the end of the Pleistocene.
Coinman's ongoing research at Upper Paleolithic sites
seeks a better understanding of human adaptive strategies and behavior
within a dynamic and changing pleistocene ecological context comprised
of extensive lacustrine and marsh environments during the waning years
of the Pleistocene (~40-20,000 years ago). The research integrates
archaeological and geoarchaeological information from a series of
sites found along the former shorelines of Pleistocene Lake Hasa and
from rockshelter sites found in the lower drainages between Lake Hasa
and the former Lake Lisan, the remnants of which are represented by
today's Dead Sea. Geoarchaeological research at these archaeological
sites is reconstructing a chronological sequence of paleoenvironmental
changes in the local landscape, archaeological site geomorphologies,
and a detailed record of human responses to environmental shifts,
particularly those associated with the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum
beginning c. 25,000 years ago. The archaeological record in the Wadi
al-Hasa is particularly rich in evidence for a wide array of prey
species and sophisticated tool kits at different types of archaeological
sites in various ecological contexts. Current research is focused
on identifying similarities and differences in two lakeshore sites
(Ayn al-Buhayra and Tha'lab al-Buhayra) where dense faunal remains
representing Bos, Equus, Sus, and Gazella are well-preserved. The
faunal assemblages suggest that different activities associated with
processing animal carcasses and the consumption of meat may have occurred
at these two sites. Detailed analyses of the stone tool assemblages
also support the notion that different activities occurred at the
two sites.
Relevant Publications and Manuscripts
Coinman, N. R. 2005. Subsistence and Technology: Implications
for Settlement Organization in the Levantine Upper Paleolithic. Journal
of the Israel Prehistoric Society Vol. 35: 159-177.
Coinman, N. R. 2004. The Upper Paleolithic of the Wadi al-Hasa, Jordan.
In STUDIES IN THE HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY OF JORDAN VIII,
pp.79-96. Department of Antiquities of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Amman.
Coinman, N. R. 2003. The Upper Paleolithic of Jordan: New Data from
the Wadi al-Hasa. In More Than Meets the Eye: Studies on Upper
Paleolithic Diversity in the Near East, edited by N. Goring-Morris
and Anna Belfer-Cohen, pp. 151-170. Oxbow Books, Oxford.
Coinman, N. R. 2002. New Evidence of Ksar Akil Scrapers in the Levantine
Upper Paleolithic. Paléorient. Vol. 28/2:87-103.
Olszewski, D. and N. Coinman 2002. An Ice Age Oasis in Jordan: Pleistocene
Hunter-Gatherers in the Wadi al-Hasa Region. In EXPEDITION,
pp. 16-23. Bulletin of the Musuem of Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania.
Philadelphia.
Fox, J. R. and N. R. Coinman 2004. The Emergence of the Levantine
Upper Paleolihtic: Evidence from the Wadi al-Hasa, Jordan. In
The Early Upper Paleolithc Beyond Western Europe, edited by R.
Brantingham, S. Kuhn, and K. Kerry, pp. 102-119. University of California
Press. Los Angeles.
Coinman, N. R. 2000. The Upper Paleolithic in the Wadi al-Hasa. In
The Archaeology of the Wadi al-Hasa, West-Central Jordan, Vol.
2: Excavations at Middle, Upper, and Epipaleolithic Sites in the Hasa,
edited by N. R. Coinman, pp. 143-160. Arizona State University Anthropological
Research Papers NO. 52. Tempe.
Coinman, N. R. (Editor) 1998. The Archaeology of the Wadi al-Hasa,
West-Central Jordan, Vol. 1: Surveys, Settlement Patterns and Paleoenvironments.
Arizona State University Anthropological Research Papers No. 50. Tempe.
Coinman, N. R. 1998. The Upper Paleolithic of Jordan. In The Prehistoric
Archaeology of Jordan, edited by D. O. Henry, pp. 39-63. BAR
International Series 705. British Archaeological Reports. Oxford.
Coinman, N. R. 1997. Upper Paleolithic Technologies: Core Reduction
Strategies. In The Prehistory of Jordan II. Perspectives
from 1996, edited by H-G Gebel, Z. Kafafi and G. Rollefson, pp. 111-124.
Studies in Early Near Eastern Production, Subsistence, and Environment
4. ex oriente, Berlin.
Coinman, N. R. 1997. Worked Bone in the Levantine Upper Paleolithic:
Rare Examples from the Wadi al-Hasa, West-Central Jordan. Paléorient
22/2: 113-121.
Olszewski, D. and N. Coinman 1998. Settlement Patterning During the
Late Pleistocene in the Wadi al-Hasa, West-Central Jordan. In The
Archaeology of the Wadi al-Hasa, West-Central Jordan, Vol. 1: Surveys,
Settlement Patterns, and Paleoenvironments, edited by N.R. Coinman,
pp. 177-203. Arizona State University Anthropological Research Papers
No. 50. Tempe.
