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.