Why late earliest occupation of Western Europe ?

Introduction

The project aims to question human migrations and peopling: why did the earliest hominins occupy Western Europe later than other portions of Eurasia? Early hominins conquered Eurasia long before modern humans, the single Homo species living now on the earth. They moved out of Africa rapidly but left Europe empty for almost 1 million years.

Environmental Constraints

Western Europe faced significant environmental constraints. This subcontinent is located in a remote corner of Eurasia, but other large Eurasian peninsulas are dead ends as well. The mixture of various environments and topographies in Western Europe changed considerably over time. The succession of climates caused favorable territories for human occupations to fluctuate.

Archaeological Evidence

Archaeology in Asia and the Levant shows that hominins overcame variable climatic conditions and geographies. Investigating why Western Europe remained out of the Oikoumen for so long is the focus of our research proposal, LATEUROPE.

Research Proposal

LATEUROPE is based on datasets of interdisciplinary and behavioral materials, enriched by future fieldwork in several specific sites and biomes from the key period before 500 ka. This research will question, at local, regional, and continental scales:

1. The environmental, geographic, and climatic conditions of Europe compared to the rest of Eurasia.
2. The characteristics of hominin occupations and behaviors.
3. Whether a minimum degree of cognition was required to thrive in these lands.

Methodology

Databases will input multiple scenarios combining migration patterns and internal evolution mechanisms. We will use conceptual modeling and spatial agent-based simulations. This formalized combination of modeling and field methodologies represents an epistemological advance, bringing interdisciplinarity to reality.

Conclusion

This approach will allow us to deeply question the ability of Homo species to adapt to harsh environments and to face environmental shocks and changes on a long-term scale.