Behavioural complexity, cultural mosaics, and the routeways to modern behaviour from a Middle Pleistocene European perspective

Ashton, Nick; Davis, Rob

Behavioural complexity, cultural mosaics, and the routeways to modern behaviour from a Middle Pleistocene European perspective

Resource type

Journal article

Creator (person)

Ashton, Nick

ORCID

Davis, Rob

Date published

December 29, 2025

Abstract

There has been long debate about what constitutes modern behaviour with much of the focus on Africa and the emergence of . But there has also been recognition by many researchers that the route to modern behaviour can be traced back into the Middle Pleistocene and that a multiâ€ regional approach addresses the question more broadly by contributing evidence from other hominin species. This article reâ€ evaluates some of the evidence from Europe over the last half million years, drawing on developments in technology, economizing behaviours, landscape use, social organization, and social signalling through material culture.