Human Geography of the Late Upper Paleolithic in Western Europe: Present State of the Question

The indications of human abandonment of northwestern Europe and of increased population density in southwestern Europe during the Last Glacial Maximum (centered on 18-20,000 B.P.) are linked in a proposed causal relationship. Evidence for subsistence intensification and growth of socioterritorial complexity associated with developments in cave art in the Franco-Cantabrian region are intepreted in light of the human geographical and environmental background. The localized "Solutrean" phenomenon is seen as an indication of the existence of a human refugium in the favored environments of southwestern Europe, while the "Magdalenian" is interpreted as evidence of a biogeographical rebound on the part of hunter-gatherer populations under less severe Tardiglacial conditions in western Europe. The general model is one which seeks to explore the effects of range contraction and reexpansion upon the complex of human adaptive strategies.