Subsistence Strategies in Agent-Based Models of Foraging Hominins: State of the Art and Challenges

Hominins lived for most of their history as foragers in complete dependence on plants and animals in their surroundings. Depending on the regions they occupied, the available resources may have differed greatly intra- and inter-annually while shifts in climate altered the available ecosystems over time. How hominins may have behaved under these conditions and adapted to new challenges is increasingly studied using agent-based models (ABMs), as they allow researchers to recreate different behavioural and environmental scenarios and test the consequences (i.e., home range size, viability of the group). The goal of this article is to provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of research on ABMs simulating hominin foraging behaviour and connected processes, highlighting key findings, methodologies and theoretical frameworks. Our analysis reveals several prominent trends in the application of ABMs focused on hominin foraging behaviour, including the use of optimal-foraging (OFT) or central-place foraging (CPF) approaches. Additionally, we identify common challenges faced by researchers, such as implementing suitable reactions of the hominins to varying environmental conditions without relying on CPF, the difficulties in implementing comprehensive interactions between foragers and how to observe and interpret the resulting behaviour. This paper underscores the importance of refining ABMs to better capture the complexity of subsistence strategies in foraging hominins. We propose future directions for research that could enhance model accuracy and applicability.