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Does Environmental Knowledge Inhibit Hominin Dispersal?

Colin D Wren¹, Andre Costopoulos²

¹1 Department of Anthropology, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Colorado.

|March 3, 2016

Summary

Environmental knowledge can hinder hominin dispersal. More knowledge about resources can lead to less dispersal, especially in predictable environments, as it increases competition and reduces fitness.

Keywords:

agent-based modeling cognition cultural transmission hominin dispersal human-environmental interaction

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary anthropology
Computational archaeology
Behavioral ecology

Background:

Previous research indicated natural selection may favor lower environmental assessment capacity in clustered resource environments.
Higher environmental knowledge was linked to reduced likelihood of abandoning familiar landscapes for dispersal.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the relationship between hominin dispersal potential, foraging strategies, and resource environment characteristics.
To model the impact of individual and social learning strategies on environmental knowledge and dispersal.

Main Methods:

Agent-based modeling approach to simulate hominin populations.
Incorporation of individual and social learning strategies for environmental knowledge acquisition.
Analysis of how environmental knowledge levels affect dispersal potential and fitness.

Main Results:

Natural selection favors decreased environmental knowledge, especially in low-heterogeneity environments.
Social learning of detailed environmental knowledge leads to agent crowding, reduced reproductive space, and lower relative fitness.
Agents with less environmental knowledge exhibit greater dispersal by moving away from resource clusters.

Conclusions:

Environmental knowledge can strengthen location-specific ties, thereby reducing dispersal potential.
Evolved environmental knowledge levels are contingent on resource environment characteristics and influence population dispersal capacity.
Contrary to expectations, detailed environmental knowledge may not be a prerequisite for successful dispersal but can impede it.