In Roughly 100,000 Years Of Human History

[Sparta]

why didn't populations move from deserts to more productive areas, people move from arctic conditions to warmer climes, why did Stone Age man live on Dartmoor rather than the coast where they could fish? Never worked it out.

[Spicerack]

The deserts probably weren't deserts back in the day.

[Sparta]

Spice: You may be right but they have been deserts for a very long time. Why didn't populations move for water, fish, to be able to grow crops...

[ToraToraTora]

well the short answer is, they did. We can all be traced to an area in Africa and spread out from there.

[steg]

This may help you

https://www.dartmoor.gov.uk/wildlife-and-heritage/heritage/prehistory

[Buenchico]

Even as little as 150 years ago, most people never left the towns and villages that they were born in throughout their lives, even for a day. Almost everybody lived, worked and died within just a mile or two of where they were born

Going back to the Stone Age, people who lived on Dartmoor were probably totally unaware that the sea existed, so they weren't going to rush to get there.

Further, mankind has always been both tribal and territorial. Seeking to move into someone else's patch could have fatal consequences!

[douglas9401]

Location x 3. :-)

[Zacs-Master]

Not everyone likes fish.

[Atheist]

Buen, I think your answer is a bit parochial. In the really olden days, people went wherever it was necessary to find food, to escape 'others'; and to escape the vagaries of weather. Migration was spread over millenia.

[Old_Geezer]

It is difficult to understand why some have ancestors who opted to stay in places which were unsuitable to settle. On their way out of Africa, or wherever, they ought to have stopped where it looked a place with plenty of resources.

[Atheist]

OG, I think that our ancient ancestors were quite capable of deciding whether or not they should 'stay or should they go'. They did what they had to do.

[Sunk]

The climate of the world has changed over thousands of years.
Man originated in Africa and travelled out of there. They pushed to the far reaches of the planet.
What we might think as an inhospitable place now, might have been a great place to live 70,000 years ago.

[Sunk]

Zacs

Very funny answer. Should be BA.

The climate changes very slowly, and people adapt to the changes. A lush landscape can become desert over hundreds of years. People living there were stubborn, and choose to stay rather than take flight.

Even thousands of years ago, there were trading routes spanning different countries. Materials and trinkets found at archaeological sites are often from oversees and hundreds of miles away.