Populating PEP II: the dispersal of humans and agriculture through Austral-Asia and Oceania

Abstract

This paper examines the history of Homo erectus and Homo sapiens in the Austral-Asian region bisected by the PEP II (Pole-Equator-Pole) transect, from Siberian Russia, south through Asia, insular Southeast Asia, Australasia and Oceania. Current evidence is reviewed for the timing of the arrival of humans along PEP II, their subsequent expansion through the region and their concurrent development or acquisition of increasingly sophisticated technologies for resource exploitation. Particular emphasis is placed on assessing the role of environmental change in the observed trajectories of human dispersal and technological development. It is concluded that rapid environmental change events may have influenced at least some of these trajectories.