Eco-cultural niches of the Badegoulian: Unraveling links between cultural adaptation and ecology during the Last Glacial Maximum in France

Banks, William E.; Aubry, Thierry; d’Errico, Francesco; Zilhão, João; Lira‐Noriega, Andrés; Peterson, A. Townsend

doi:10.1016/j.jaa.2011.05.003

Cited by 58 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 85 publications

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“…Previous approaches of prehistoric human distribution and niche modeling have trained the predictive models using archaeological site distribution data (79)(80)(81). By keeping our calibration model independent from the archaeological data, we are able to test our simulation with the archaeological data.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human population dynamics in Europe over the Last Glacial Maximum

Tallavaara

Luoto

Korhonen

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

159

109

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The severe cooling and the expansion of the ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), 27,000-19,000 y ago (27-19 ky ago) had a major impact on plant and animal populations, including humans. Changes in human population size and range have affected our genetic evolution, and recent modeling efforts have reaffirmed the importance of population dynamics in cultural and linguistic evolution, as well. However, in the absence of historical records, estimating past population levels has remained difficult. Here we show that it is possible to model spatially explicit human population dynamics from the pre-LGM at 30 ky ago through the LGM to the Late Glacial in Europe by using climate envelope modeling tools and modern ethnographic datasets to construct a population calibration model. The simulated range and size of the human population correspond significantly with spatiotemporal patterns in the archaeological data, suggesting that climate was a major driver of population dynamics 30-13 ky ago. The simulated population size declined from about 330,000 people at 30 ky ago to a minimum of 130,000 people at 23 ky ago. The Late Glacial population growth was fastest during Greenland interstadial 1, and by 13 ky ago, there were almost 410,000 people in Europe. Even during the coldest part of the LGM, the climatically suitable area for human habitation remained unfragmented and covered 36% of Europe.hunter-gatherers | demography | niche modeling | climate change | Paleolithic G rowing populations of anatomically and behaviorally modern humans have been partly responsible for past ecosystem changes such as the extinctions of Pleistocene megafauna and Neanderthal humans (1, 2). In addition to the destiny of other species, human population size also influences our own cultural and genetic evolution. Large pools of interacting individuals can create and maintain adaptive skills, as well as phonological variation, more effectively than small populations, and they are also capable of faster cumulative cultural evolution (3-5). A decrease in population size may even result in a loss of complex cultural traits (6). The effects of population size on cultural variation are thus roughly similar to the effects of population size on genetic variation (7).The study of the role of human population size in cultural and genetic evolution and past ecosystem changes necessitates estimates of population dynamics extending far beyond historical times. The archaeological record illustrates patterns of human population range and size dynamics (8-10), but it does not offer quantitative population size data. Archaeological reconstructions of population dynamics are also bound to the regions and time periods that offer a sufficiently rich archaeological record. In addition to archaeological data, information on past population patterns can be inferred from genetic data using skyline-plot methods (11) and pairwise or multiple sequentially Markovian coalescent analyzes (12, 13). However, these methods depend on estimates of DNA mutation rate and ...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Human population dynamics in Europe over the Last Glacial Maximum

Tallavaara

Luoto

Korhonen

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

159

109

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Barton et al (2011) have recently suggested that for a better understanding of the complexity of cultural transmission mechanisms, multidimensional models that combine biological, cultural and environmental data are required. Banks et al (2011), in their study of the French Badegoulian, applied an eco-cultural niche model geared towards examining the relationship between ecological and cultural systems. Data concerning lithic raw material circulation and production systems allowed them to identify distinct social territories within a single ecological niche.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Solutrean–Magdalenian transition: A view from Iberia

Aura

Tiffagom²,

Pardo

et al. 2012

Quaternary International

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Article history: Available online xxx a b s t r a c t The paper examines the Upper SolutreaneArchaic Magdalenian/Badegoulian succession on the base of lithic and bone tool production, chrono-stratigraphic data and radiocarbon dates from the Cantabrian and Mediterranean regions of Iberia, mainly the areas of Asturias and Valencia (Spain). The discussion considers a reduced number of variables (characteristic stone tools, bone points and decoration techniques) and highlights the elements in common. The analysis concerning the transformation of lithic production at Cova del Parpalló provides new data for the Upper SolutreaneArchaic Magdalenian/ Badegoulian transition.

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“…The developers of MaxEnt argued its advantage to GARP in the accuracy of its prediction (Phillips et al, 2006), although others claimed that the geographical extents of the niche predicted by MaxEnt are narrower and more biased than those predicted by GARP (Peterson et al, 2007). This tendency has also been observed in the experimental studies for hunter-gatherers in the Badegoulian lithic industry in Western Europe at the LGM (Banks et al, 2011). A recent mathematical review revealed that species-specific tuning of model parameters should be required for improving the performance of MaxEnt because model performance varied among data-partitioning approaches and among regularization multipliers (Radosavljevic and Anderson, 2014).…”

Section: ) Ecological Niche Modelmentioning

confidence: 60%

“…Takahara and Kozu Island, annual precipitation, annual mean temperature, warmest and coldest month tempera- tures, and landform zones of water, lowland, plateau, hills, mountains and volcanoes). Model parameters were set similar to those in Banks et al (2011) ; Maximum iteration was 500 and 10,000 background points were taken. Convergence limit was set to 10 -5 .…”

Section: ) Ecological Niche Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

An ecological niche modelling of Upper Palaeolithic stone tool groups in the Kanto-Koshinetsu region, eastern Japan

Kondo

2015

Daiyonki-kenkyu

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Ecological niche modelling (ENM) is a computer-based method to extrapolate the niche probability of a species through machine learning using (1) known location of a species' occurrence and (2) environmental factors such as temperature, precipitation and elevation. ENM is applicable to prehistoric archaeology based on the assumption that human behaviour and niche constructions were largely constrained by environmental factors. This paper applies ENM to a large-scale data of Upper Palaeolithic (UP) occupations in the Kanto-Koshinetsu region of eastern Japan in order to quantitatively assess and visualise ecological niche of UP populations to understand their behavioural strategies. Spatial niche probability was calculated with reconstructed palaeoclimatic data and landform indices for the Last Glacial Maximum (21 ka), taking into consideration four major lithic groups (trapezoids, kakusuijo-sekki, backed blades and microliths), which may reflect different strategies in resource procurement. Results indicated that niche probability was generally high in Musashino, Sagamino and Shimousa uplands in the southern Kanto region, although the observed site distribution was probably biased by intensive rescue excavations due to urban developments. The distance to the obsidian outcrops in the central highland remarkably contributed to the model. A closer look revealed two patches of high niche probability area in the Hakone mountains for the kakusuijo-sekki, backed blades and microliths. These patches were probably parts of a 'niche corridor' in association with the transportation of obsidian raw materials between the central highland and Hakone area via the Fujikawa valley.

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Eco-cultural niches of the Badegoulian: Unraveling links between cultural adaptation and ecology during the Last Glacial Maximum in France

Cited by 58 publications

References 85 publications

Human population dynamics in Europe over the Last Glacial Maximum

Human population dynamics in Europe over the Last Glacial Maximum

The Solutrean–Magdalenian transition: A view from Iberia

An ecological niche modelling of Upper Palaeolithic stone tool groups in the Kanto-Koshinetsu region, eastern Japan

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