Why did humans move north?

by Cue_Ball_Jamal

Why did ancient humans live in places like Scandinavia or anywhere with harsh winters where it was harder for them to survive?

Searocksandtrees

There's lots of room for more discussion, but just fyi, you can get started on this earlier post

MrMarbles2000

It could have been any number of reasons:

  • Competition or warfare with other tribes compelled some people to migrate to other areas for safety.
  • Natural resources of an area might have been depleted (mild winter isn't much of a consolation if there is nothing to eat) and that forced people to move north.
  • People (pre-agriculture especially) tended to follow migratory herds of animals that they hunted.
  • People's migration patterns were probably gradual. It is unlikely that people moved from Africa to Scandinavia within a single person's lifetime.
  • People gradually adopted and acclimated to living in a cold climate, and weren't really bothered by it. Winters aren't that difficult to deal with since they are predictable. Other weather phenomena such as a drought that are less predictable are much more serious problems.

By the way you might get better answers to this question in /r/AskAnthropology or /r/AskSocialScience.