부산대학교 도서관

This chapter examines the challenges that hominins occupying higher latitudes have had to deal with. More specifically, it analyses how hominins were able to maintain social networks over the larger geographic areas associated with decreasing population densities at higher latitudes, along with the mechanisms by which the largest encompassing groups can be maintained. The chapter first considers what the term ‘group’ means before discussing the apparent trends in hominin group size and social organisation over time. It then explains why it is important to maintain extended community networks and the cognitive and time budgeting challenges presented by higher latitudes. It also compares Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans in terms of network sizes and in maintaining their extended social networks.