A computer simulation of hominid dispersal from Africa

Introduction

These pages describe a simulation of hominid colonisation between 2 million and 500,000 years ago.

The computer simulation we have developed – referred to as STEPPINGOUT - is a powerful research tool. It enables one to model the dispersal of hominids across the Old World, from an East Africa origin at two million years ago until 500kya. The simulation runs on time-steps of 250 years and allows one to experiment with different scenarios – whether these relate to colonisation rates, palaoenvironmental conditions, land-bridges or hominid environmental preferences. In this paper we provide a summary of the key elements of the simulation and illustrate its use for addressing the contrasting arrival dates and occupation histories of Europe and East Asia.

A map shows the dates hominids arrived at 6 sites which have been used in the model.

The computer program was written by Melissa Reed as part of the hominid evolutionary biogeography project supported by a NERC grant to Steven Mithen (grant no. GR3/11042). This web page accompanies a written report and discussion of the results by Steven Mithen and Melissa Reed available on rqeuest.