There are repeating patterns that we can observe among a wide range of organisms that occupied Pleistocene Europe. These include the contraction into southern refugia and subsequent expansions during climatic amelioration that I shall describe in this chapter. In seeking a generalised theory that accounts for the varying fortunes of the Neanderthals and Moderns we must consider that Pleistocene people were humans, not super-humans. By this I mean that, even though humans in the Pleistocene had succeeded in evolving socio-cultural and technological achievements that undoubtedly set them apart and gave them great advantages over the other animals with which they shared territory, they were by no means independent of the environment that surrounded them and were very much subject to the forces of natural selection. If we are able to see similarities of pattern with other Pleistocene animals then we will have advanced towards a generalised theory. If we are unable to find such similarities then we will also have advanced in our understanding of the distinctness of humans in the Pleistocene world.

Humans, climate and environmental change

Eurasian humans throughout the Pleistocene were restricted to southern refugia during cold episodes. The degree of permanence of human populations would have been highest in tropical and equatorial regions with decreasing probability of permanence away from these areas (Finlayson et al., 2000a).