Lycett S, Von Cramon-Taubadel N, 2007, Acheulean variability and hominin dispersals: a model-bound approach, Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies, University of Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Street, Cambridge
In Archaeology it is a widely held opinion that bi-facial hand axe technologies evolved in Africa and dispersed to the north and west. Today, however, few formal tests of this hypothesis have been presented. Here, in this peer-reviewed publication, the authors use a combination of morphometrics, cultural transmission theory, and a dispersal model drawn from population genetics in order to challenge, and test this hypothesis.
Clark GA, 1994, Migration as an Explanatory Concept in Palaeolithic Archaeology, Department of Anthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona Plenum Publishing Corporation.
Migration is often put forward as an explanation for patterns in paleolithic.
Archaeology, but the credibility of doing so the Authors state, depends almost exclusively upon acceptance of comparison between historical processes and the processes that have combined to create an ancient archaeological record. It is argued in this paper that paleolithic archaeology cannot be treated as an annex of history.
The authors put forward that historical processes are therefore inappropriate analogies. The credibility given to migration as an explanatory construct varies between research traditions of different nations. Why this is the case is investigated and challenged within this paper.
Franklin J, Alastair J, Potts C, Fisher M, Cowling Curtis W, 2015, Paleodistribution modeling in archaeology and paleoanthropology Quaternary Science Reviews, Available online 12 January 2015
This article focuses on Species distribution modeling (SDM). SDM has become widely used for developing quantitative, empirical, predictive models of species environmental relationships. The Authors suggest that SDM methods could be more broadly applied than they currently are. SDM works by using environmental data and range mapping computer algorithms to predict the distribution of a species across geographic space and time. They argue that this method can, and should be used alongside archaeological evidence to support human migration theories.
Mccoll, Hugh, Racimo, Fernando, Vinner, Lasse, Demeter, Fabrice, Moreno Mayar, J, Seguin-Orlando, Andaine, Wasef, Sally, Prohaska, Ana, Margarayan, Ashot, De Barros Damgaard, Peter, Shoocongdej, Rasmi, Souksavatdy, Viengkeo, Sayavongkhamdy, Thongsa, Kaewsutthi, Supannee, Lertrit, Patcharee, Hsiao-Chun, Hung, Tran, Thi, Shahidan, Shaiful, Wiradnyana, Ketut, Bacon, Anne-Marie, Duringer, Philippe, Ponche, Jean-Luc, Shackelford, Laura, Patole-Edoumba, Elise, Bellina-Pryce, Berenice, Kinaston, Rebecca, Buckley, Hallie, Pottier, Christophe, Rasmussen, Simon, Higham, Tom, Foley, Robert, Lahr, Marta, Orlando, Ludovic, Sikora, Martin, Higham, Charles, Lambert, David, and Willerslev, Eske. 'Ancient Genomics Reveals Four Prehistoric Migration Waves into Southeast Asia.' BioRxiv (2018): BioRxiv, Mar 8, 2018. Web.
The Author begins by explaining that two distinct population models have been put forward to explain present-day human diversity in South east Asia. The first model proposes long-term continuity (Regional Continuity model) while the other suggests two waves of dispersal (Two Layer model).
In this publication the vast number of academic contributors use whole-genome capture together with shotgun sequencing to generate 25 ancient human genome sequences. Their results indicate that Hoabinhian hunter-gatherer in Laos and Malaysia have genetic affinities with the Onge hunter-gatherers from the Andaman Islands, while South-East Asian Neolithic farmers have a distinct East Asian genomic ancestry related to present-day Austroasiatic- speaking populations. They also suggest two other migratory events into Island South-East Asia have occurred.
Salzano, F.M. The Prehistoric Colonization of the Americas: Evidence and Models. Evo Edu Outreach 4, 199–204 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12052-011-0330-9
The abouve is a review of studies which considered the prehistoric colonization of the Americas. This study included simulation models based on linguistic and genetic data as well as archaeological and paleoanthropological information, to produce genetic and genomic empirical results. In this report the Authors once again question the one-wave-only pattern of migration. They suggest that more investigation is required in to the possibility of circumarctic gene flow in both directions between Asian and North American populations.
Muttoni, Giovanni, Giancarlo Scardia, and Dennis V Kent. 'Human Migration into Europe during the Late Early Pleistocene Climate Transition.' Paleogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 296.1 (2010): 79-93. Web.
In this paper the Authors produce a critical assessment of the available magnetostratigraphic and radiometric age constraints on key sites bearing hominin remains and lithic industries from southern Europe. They propose that the main window of early hominin presence in southern Europe broadly coincides with the late Early Pleistocene global climate transition (the first prominent cold stage of the Pleistocene). The Authors go on to theorise that more sever climatic conditions in North Africa and Eastern Europe triggered migration pulses of large herbivores including elephants into southern European, and that as a result hominins migrated with them.
Fu, Qiaomei, Heng Li, Priya Moorjani, Flora Jay, Sergey M Slepchenko, Aleksei A Bondarev, Philip L F Johnson, Ayinuer Aximu-Petri, Kay Prüfer, Cesare De Filippo, Matthias Meyer, Nicolas Zwyns, Domingo C Salazar-García, Yaroslav V Kuzmin, Susan G Keates, Pavel A Kosintsev, Dmitry I Razhev, Michael P Richards, Nikolai V Peristov, Michael Lachmann, Katerina Douka, Thomas F G Higham, Montgomery Slatkin, Jean-Jacques Hublin, David Reich, Janet Kelso, T Bence Viola, and Svante Pääbo. 'Genome Sequence of a 45,000-year-old Modern Human from Western Siberia.' Nature 514.7523 (2014): 445-49. Web.
This report compares the high-quality genome sequence of a 45,000-year-old modern human male from Siberia. The report indicates that Neanderthal gene flow into the ancestors of this individual occurred 7,000–13,000 years before he lived. This study challenges the common model for the modern human colonization of Asia. The common model assumes that there was an early coastal migration which gave rise to the present-day people of Oceania, while a later more northern migration gave rise to Europeans and mainland Asians.
The authors conclude that the fact that this 45,000-year-old individual from Siberia is not more closely related to the Onge from the Andaman and suggests that this individual belonged to at least one other migratory group that colonized Asia before 45,000 years ago.
Mayank N Vahia, Uma Ladiwala, Pavan Mahathe, and Deepak Mathur. 'Population Dynamics of Early Human Migration in Britain.' PLoS ONE 11.5 (2016): E0154641. Web.
Early human migration in to Britain was largely determined by climatic changes and human needs. These are both both important factors when hunter gatherer populations moved into unoccupied areas where conflicts and large group dynamics were not present. The Authors investigate the early period of human migration into the British Isles, which they believe provides a laboratory which, because of its relative geographical isolation, may allow some insights into the complex dynamics of early human migration and interaction. The simulation is based on human affinity to habitable land, as defined by availability of water sources, altitude, and flatness of land, in choosing the path of migration.
Houldcroft, Charlotte J, Jean-Baptiste Ramond, Riaan F Rifkin, and Simon J Underdown. 'Migrating Microbes: What Pathogens Can Tell Us about Population Movements and Human Evolution.' Annals of Human Biology: Human Biology of Migration 44.5 (2017): 397-407. Web.
This publication suggests the biology of human migration can be observed from the co-evolutionary relationship with infectious diseases . The authors state that while many pathogens are only present in human bodies for a short time, others have the ability to become life-long human passengers thus a pathogen’s genetic code may, therefore, provide insight into the history of its human host. The report discuses evolution and distribution of disease in Africa as being particularly important, due to the deep history of human evolution.
Dillehay, Tom D. 'Climate and Human Migrations.' Science 298.5594 (2002): 764-65. Web.
Most reconstructions of early human ecosystems are based on the excavation and interpretation of individual archaeological sites .Paleoecological studies of long-term climatic change are also often limited in scope the article suggests. Integrative studies of multiple sites, multiple records, and larger areas over long time periods they believe can enhance the interpretation by using such an all-inclusive approach. In the article published in “science” vol 298 they closely integrate paleoecological and archaeological data to study the long term interaction between hunter-gatherers and climatic change over the last 15,000 years in the Atacama desert of northern Chile.
Anne H. Osborne, Derek Vance, Eelco J. Rohling, Nick Barton, Mike Rogerson, and Nuri Fello. 'A Humid Corridor across the Sahara for the Migration of Early Modern Humans out of Africa 120,000 Years Ago.' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105.43 (2008): 16444-16447. Web.
This Article published in “Science” states while It is widely accepted that modern humans originated in sub-Saharan Africa 150–200 thousand years ago, their route of dispersal across the currently hyperarid Sahara remains controversial. The article hypothesises that the first modern humans north of the Sahara are found in the Levant 120–90 thousand years ago due to a humid episode in the Sahara.
The Authors state that the dispersal route of the Nile may be ruled out by variations in archaeological finds in the Nile Valley and the Levant. The article looks in to present geochemical data that demonstrates water in fossil systems from the south during wet episodes. The Authors believe this proves the existence of an uninterrupted freshwater corridor across a currently hyperarid region of the Sahara, at a key time for early modern human migrations to the north and out of Africa.
Axel Timmermann, and Tobias Friedrich. 'Late Pleistocene Climate Drivers of Early Human Migration.' Nature 538.7623 (2016): 92-95. Web.
This article starts by stating the basis of fossil and archaeological data that the exodus of Homo sapiens out of Africa and into Eurasia between 50–120 thousand years ago occurred in several migration episodes (1–4). The article discusses the challenges of analysing migration patterns due to varying climatic change and sea levels that span many different lengths on time. This article presents their results using a numerical human dispersal model, which gives estimates of climate and sea level changes over the past 125 thousand years.
The model simulates the overall dispersal of H. sapiens while including archaeological and fossil data. Their findings suggest that orbital-scale global climate swings played a key role in shaping Late Pleistocene global population distributions, whereas millennial-scale abrupt climate changes, associated with Dansgaard–Oeschger events, had a more limited regional effect.
Note: All sources listed in this bibliography are peer reviewed.