Environmental Controls on Human Dispersal and Adaptation

Human dispersals and adaptations are the result of the dynamic relationship between cultural and biological systems. This chapter focuses on the last half a million years with an emphasis on the environmental controls on human dispersal and adaptation, with the perspective of spatiotemporal variations in environments as a key factor. It provides a brief overview of landscapes and their complexity and controls over time and space. Human dispersals and adaptations require an understanding of complex interactions and strong couplings that link human dynamics, biology, biochemistry, geochemistry, geology, hydrology, geomorphology, and atmospheric dynamics, including climate change. The literature is increasingly full of proposals about environmental barriers, glacial/interglacial cycles, sea-crossings, land bridges, and adaptive specializations, but they often lack the means to evaluate their individual and combined impacts on hominid dispersal. The chapter highlights aspects relating to examples of three of these, namely sea level variations, deserts, and mountains.