扩散(dispersals)、殖民(colonisation)、移入(immigration)、人口同化(assimilation) 或取代(replacement) 是东亚旧石器考古的基本主题。其中的一些主题，可以在生物地理学的框架内进行研究，主要通过研究古人类对气候和环境变化的响应，来阐释古人类种属在空间和时间上的变化及背后的原因。古人类(hominins)[ 尤其是智人(humans)] 的行为受到技术、社会和认知发展等因素的影响，因此，在研
究扩散时，生物地理学模型也必须包含对这些因素的思考。对于智人在东亚扩散至雨林，跨越海洋到达离岸岛屿，甚至到达北极和青藏高原最高地区的研究来说，这些因素尤为重要。以上述思考为基础，本文提出了一个研究古人类和智人在东亚扩散的方法论框架，该框架以生物地理学框架为基础，同时结合了古人类适应性和行为变化的因素。

Dispersals, colonisation, immigration and population assimilation or replacement are fundamental themes in the Palaeolithic record of East Asia. Some of these issues can be studied within a biogeographic framework that explains why and how the distribution of hominin species changed over time and space in response to climatic and environmental change. Because hominins (and especially humans) can change their behaviour through technical, social and cognitive developments, biogeographic models also have to incorporate this factor when investigating dispersals. This is particularly important with the dispersals in East Asia by Homo sapiens into rainforests, across open sea to off-shore islands, to the Arctic and the highest parts of the Tibetan Plateau. This paper suggests how hominin and human dispersals in East Asia might be investigated by using a biogeographic framework that can incorporate changes in hominin adaptability and behaviour.