From adaptation to niche construction: Weather as a winter site selection factor in northern Mongolia, the Quebec Lower North Shore, and the southern Urals

•We analyze the settlement locations in terms of their exposure to winter winds.•The assumption is that people choose to live in calm, protected spots.•The aim is to provide comparative cases to apply to other ancient groups.•The test societies represent a spectrum of strategies from the flexible adaptation to niche construction examples. The paper analyzes the settlement locations of three archaeological societies of the Northern Hemisphere above 48°N in terms of their exposure to winter winds. To explain settlement decision-making, we apply computational models to three archaeological societies to test whether residence location and architecture were chosen concerning the best heat preservation strategy. We conclude that the test societies represent a spectrum of strategies from the flexible adaptation to the combination of adaptation and niche construction. The flexible adaptation implied seasonal movements from the most to the least wind-exposed locations, while the niche construction combined with choosing the least-exposed location helped maintain the warmth while maintaining access to vital resources. This conclusion provides a possibility to explain the formation of social complexity in early complex societies due to cooperation rather than as a result of social conflict or aggrandizing behavior.