DENSE FORESTS, COLD STEPPES, AND THE PALEOLITHIC SETTLEMENT OF NORTHERN EUROPE

Contemporary models for the evolution of human behaviour place heavy emphasis on the ecology of the settlement of northern latitudes. Researchers including Gamble and Whallon have presented models that are based on inferred differences in ecological tolerances between archaic and anatomically modem humans. Palaeoecological data from a large number of archaeological sites in Northern Europe show, however, that the range of environments that Middle and Late Pleistocene hominids were able to exploit was wider than is commonly acknowledged. These data indicate that recent models for the colonization of northern latitudes exaggerate the differences in the ecological tolerances of archaic and modem humans. While the archaeological record suggests significant behavioural differences between modem and pre-modem hominids, major differences in the ecology of settlement cannot be proven on the basis of the available evidence from Northern Europe.