Climate change and the dynamics of population replacement during the Late Pleistocene in Europe

Professor Ariane Burke, Dept. of Anthropology, University of Montréal, Canada

Venue : National Museums of Kenya (NMK), Palaeontology - Room A4

Ifra Nairobi/British Insitute in Eastern Africa/National Museum of Kenya

Abstract: The dispersal of modern humans into Europe and the nature of their interactions with Neanderthal populations are still poorly understood processes. It seems likely, given available chronological data, that modern humans first entered Europe from the east about 45,000 years Before Present, travelling westward along the Danube valley and the Mediterranean coast in an initial, colonising phase during which time they may have come into contact with Neanderthal populations. This colonising phase was eventually followed by the disappearance of  Neanderthals around 30,000 years B.P. Since the dispersal of modern humans into Europe and the extinction of the Neanderthals coincide with a period of climate instability, the role of climate change in shaping the dynamics of population replacement is hotly debated. Nowhere is this truer than in the Iberian Peninsula, which is emerging as a key region for the study of the
dynamics of hominid population replacement. We examine this debate in the light of recent survey work in Portugal.