An interactive growth model applied to the expansion of upper palaeolithic populations

Revelation 6.8 There has been considerable speculation on the relationship of the two subspecies Homo sapiens sapiens and Homo sapiens neanderthalis during the period just prior to the Neanderthals' extinction. There is little fact. This chapter uses a simulation model to create possible scenarios for the interaction of the two species at different locations in Europe at about 30 000 BC. The models indicate that there is a very small window which existed in the growth and interaction rates of the two species which would have allowed the Neanderthals to continue. Furthermore, this chapter suggests that the Neanderthal demise was more likely the result of small numbers and chance in a competitive situation than lack of adaptive characteristics. Finally, it suggests that one advantage that H. sapiens sapiens had was its more rapid rate of attaining demographic and geographic stability. As is the case in all simulations, reality is modelled; it is not re-created. Therefore, this chapter admittedly contributes to the realm of speculation rather than that of fact.