Hunter-gatherer adaptations are tied to the way that climate and environment shape the food and technological resource base. Discovering the relation between climate and environmental change and human origins must be grounded in a causal understanding of the connection between climate, environment, resource patterning, and human behavior. To better understand the origins of modern humans, we are developing a paleoscape model that simulates the climatic conditions and distribution of natural resources available to humans during the Middle Stone Age, a critical stage of human evolution. Our geographic focus is the southern Cape region of South Africa, which was rich in natural resources for hunter-gatherer groups including edible plants, shellfish, animals, and raw materials. The paleoscape model consists of several components: a regional climate model, vegetation models, a sea level model, and agent-based models of human foraging. The paleoscape project is one example of an ongoing trend in HPC whose disciplinary reach is rapidly expanding beyond the original confines of traditional HPC disciplines.

Prof. Janet Franklin