The social consequences of climate-driven changes in the spatial distribution of human populations during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM).

Summary

Risk-reducing strategies allow humans to manage ecological risk while minimising disruptions. Unpredictable resource fluctuations, i.e. ecological risk, are driven by a combination of climate conditions and climate variability. Under extreme conditions reduction strategies may fail, however, forcing a reorganisation of the social and economic structure of affected populations, as well as their technological systems. Risky conditions during the LGM, for example, affected the spatial distribution of populations in Western Europe as well as the ease and frequency of inter-regional mobility. This will have had an impact on human social networks and cultural exchange. Using predictive modelling, climate simulations and agent-based modelling, we explore how a risk-averse strategy created the spatial patterns observed in the archaeological record and consider their social consequences.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Upper Paleolithic Transitional "Moments" on the Iberian Peninsula

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16928