Modeling Learning Strategies and the Expansion of the Social Network in the Beginning of Upper Palaeolithic Europe: Analysis by Agent-Based Simulation

Abstract

When examining the cause of Neanderthal extinction and the expansion of anatomically modern humans in Europe during the transition from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic, not only fluctuations in their population density but also the establishment of large-scale social relationships associated with intergroup cultural transmission should draw our attention. In this paper, we built an agent-based model simulation to clarify the mechanism by which anatomically modern humans expanded their social relationships in the beginning of the Upper Palaeolithic in Europe. The model predicts that most individuals or groups changed their learning strategies from "forager learning" to "collector learning" when anatomically modern humans expanded into Europe and became less likely to encounter one another due to residential moves, whereas a few agents specialized in "attractor learning." "Attractors" become the hub of a social network in which various agents were linked, thus promoting accelerated cultural accumulation. This paper sheds light on the model to examine the appearance of a full range of "modern" behavioral traits by focusing on the effects of a social group's characteristics.