The Cultural Niche: Why Social Learning Is Essential for Human Adaptation
Boyd, Robert, Peter J. Richerson, and Joseph Henrich
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108, suppl. 2 (2011): 10918–10925
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1100290108
“In its brief evolutionary history, Homo sapiens has come to occupy a larger range than any other terrestrial vertebrate species. Earlier hominins, such as Homo heidelbergensis and Neanderthals, were limited to Africa and the temperate regions of southern Eurasia. Behaviorally modern humans were living in Africa by 70,000 y ago (1). Between 50,000 and 60,000 y ago, people left Africa, crossing into southwest Asia (2). From there they spread rapidly through southern Eurasia, reaching Australia by 45,000 y ago, a feat that only one other terrestrial mammal (a murid rodent) was able to accomplish (3). Soon after this, people penetrated far north, reaching the latitude of Moscow by 40,000 y ago and the Arctic Ocean by 30,000 y ago. People had spread almost as far south as the southern tip of South America 13,000 y ago, and by 5,000 y ago humans occupied virtually every terrestrial habitat except Antarctica and some islands in Oceania (2). Even the most cosmopolitan bird and mammal species have substantially smaller ranges (4–6).”
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Boyd, Robert, Peter J. Richerson, and Joseph Henrich
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108, suppl. 2 (2011): 10918–10925