This study presents an agent-based simulation model
exploring the patterns of presence and absence of Late Pleistocene
Neanderthals in western Europe. HomininSpace implements a parameterized
generic demographic and social model of hominin dispersal while avoiding
parameter value biases and explicitly modelled handicaps. Models are
simulated through time within a high-resolution environment where
reconstructed temperatures and precipitation levels influence the carrying
capacity of the landscape. Model parameter values are assigned and varied
automatically while optimizing the match with Neanderthal archaeology using a
Genetic Algorithm (GA) inspired by the processes of natural selection. The
system is able to traverse the huge parameter space that is created by the
complete set of all possible parameter value combinations to find those
values that will result in a simulation that matches well with archaeological
data in the form of radiometrically obtained presence data.
Human Origin