Synonyms
Definition
The part of Europe that loosely includes modern-day France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and Italy.
Introduction
The first time we see evidence of anatomically modern humans at all is in Africa, about 200,000 years ago. It is a well-respected idea that after they emerged as Homo sapiens, or anatomically modern humans, they began migrating up toward Asia, Europe, and the Middle East, likely between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago. However, it is still unclear or whether or not it happened all at once or when the migration may have ended (Eriksson et al. 2012; Hublin 2012; Stringer 2000). Patterns of tool dispersal across Europe and the differences between these tools suggest that there were at least two different migrations of humans into Europe, both with slightly differing characteristics when it came to their material cultures (Hoffecker 2009; Mellars 2006).
In an effort to understand the environment into which modern...
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References
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Jewell, O. (2018). Western Europe. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_383-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_383-1
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