Prehistoric human migrations: a prospective subject for modelling using geographical information systems

Published: 25 May 2023
Abstract Views: 1057
PDF: 319
HTML: 12
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

Researchers in many fields have discovered the advantage of using geographical information systems (GIS), spatial statistics and computer modelling, but these techniques are only sparingly applied in archaeological research. Writing 30 years ago, Castleford (1992) noted the considerable potential of GIS, but he also felt that its then atemporal structure was a serious flaw. It is clear that the study of dynamic processes suffers if past events cannot be linked to each other, or to the present, but today’s powerful tools have overcome this drawback. Importantly, with location and time as key indices, hypotheses about early human population dynamics can be tested and visualized in ways that can potentially reveal hidden relationships and patterns. [...]

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Ahlström T, Sjögren K-G, 2006/2007. Kvinnan från Österöd – ett tidig-mesolitiskt skelett från Bohuslän. In Situ, 7:47–64, Göteborg (abstract in English – full text in Swedish). DOI: https://doi.org/10.58323/insi.v7.13429
Banks WE, Moncel MH, Raynal JP, Cobos ME, Romero-Alvarez D, Woillez MN, Faivre JP, Gravina B, d'Errico F, Locht JL, Santos F, 2021. An ecological niche shift for Neanderthal populations in Western Europe 70,000 years ago. Sci Rep 11:5346. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-84805-6
Brace S, Diekmann Y, Booth TJ, van Dorp L, Faltyskova Z, Rohland N, Mallick S, Olalde I, Ferry M, Michel M, Oppenheimer J, Broomandkhoshbacht N, Stewardson K, Martiniano R, Walsh S, Kayser M, Charlton S, Hellenthal G, Armit I, Schulting R, Craig OE, Sheridan A, Parker Pearson M, Stringer C, Reich D, Thomas MG, Barnes I, 2019. Ancient genomes indicate population replacement in Early Neolithic Britain. Nat Ecol Evol 3:765-71. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-019-0871-9
Callaway E, 2016. Evidence mounts for interbreeding bonanza in ancient human species. Nature 1476-4687. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature.2016.19394
Caracausi S, Berruti GLF, Daffara S, Bertè D, Borel FR, 2018. Use of a GIS predictive model for the identification of high altitude prehistoric human frequentations. Results of the Sessera valley project (Piedmont, Italy). Quat Int 490:10-20. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.05.038
Castleford J, 1992. Archaeology, GIS and the time dimension: an overview. In CAA91 Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology 1991. Available from: https://proceedings.caaconference.org/files/1991/13_Castleford_CAA_1991.pdf.
Guiducci D, Burke A, 2016. Reading the landscape: Legible environments and hominin dispersals Evol Anthropol 25:133-41. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.21484
Günther T, Malmström H, Svensson EM, Omrak A, Sánchez-Quinto F, Kılınç GM, Krzewińska M, Eriksson G, Fraser M, Edlund H, Munters AR, Coutinho A, Simões LG, Vicente M, Sjölander A, Jansen Sellevold B, Jørgensen R, Claes P, Shriver MD, Valdiosera C, Netea MG, Apel J, Lidén K, Skar B, Storå J, Götherström A, Jakobsson M, 2018. Population genomics of Mesolithic Scandinavia: Investigating early postglacial migration routes and high-latitude adaptation. PLOS Biology 16:e2003703. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2003703
Hilpert J, Wendt KP, Zimmermann A, 2008. A Hierarchical Model of Scale Levels for Estimations of Population Densities. Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Computer Applications and Quantitative Methods in Archaeology (CAA), Berlin, Germany, April 2–6, 2007.
Husson L, Salles T, Lebatard A-E, Zerathe S, Braucher R, Noerwidi S, Aribowo S, Mallard C, Carcaillet J, Natawidjaja DH, Bourlès D, ASTER team2022. Javanese Homo erectus on the move in SE Asia circa 1.8 Ma Sci Rep 12:19012 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-23206-9
Praetorius SK, Alder JR, Condron A, Mix AC, Walczak MH, Caissie B, Erlandson J, 2023. Ice and ocean constraints on early human migrations into North America along the Pacific coast. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 120:e2208738120. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2208738120
Schaebitz F, Asrat A, Lamb H, Cohen A, Foerster V, Duesing W, Kaboth-Bahr S, Opitz S, Viehberg FA, Vogelsang R, Dean J, Leng MJ, Junginger A, Bronk Ramsey C, Chapot MS, Deino A, Lane CS, Roberts HM, Vidal C, Tiedemann R, Trauth MH, 2021. Hydroclimate changes in eastern Africa over the past 200,000 years may have influenced early human dispersal. Commun Earth Environ 2:123 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-021-00195-7
Soares P, Alshamali F, Pereira JB, Fernandes V, Silva NM, Afonso C, Costa MD, Musilová E, Macaulay V, Richards MB, Cerny V, Pereira L, 2012. The expansion of mtDNA Haplogroup L3 within and out of Africa. Mol Biol Evol 29, 915–27. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msr245
Snow J, 1855. On the mode of communication of cholera. 2nd ed. John Churchill, London, England.
Tierney JE, deMenocal PB, Zander PD, 2017. A climatic context for the out-of-Africa migration. Geology 45:1023–6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1130/G39457.1
Tomlinson RF, 1974. Geographical information systems, spatialdata analysis and decision making in government. Accessed 3 April 2023. Available from: http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1563584
Zhang H, Bevan A, Fuller D, Fang, Y-M, 2010. Archaeobotanical and GIS-based approaches to prehistoric agriculture in the upper Ying valley, Henan, China. J Archaeol Sci 37:1480-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2010.01.008

How to Cite

Bergquist, R. (2023). Prehistoric human migrations: a prospective subject for modelling using geographical information systems. Geospatial Health, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/gh.2023.1210