In many theories on the social and cultural evolution of human societies, the number and density of people living together in a given time and region is a crucial factor. Because direct data on past demographic developments are lacking, and reliability and validity of demographic proxies require careful evaluation, the topic has been approached from several different directions. This paper provides an introduction to a geostatistical approach for estimating prehistoric population size and density, the so-called Cologne Protocol and discusses underlying theoretical assumptions and upscaling transfer-functions between different spatial scale levels. We describe and compare the specifics for farming and for foraging societies and, using examples, discuss a diachronic series of estimates, covering the population dynamics of roughly 40 kyr of European prehistory. Ethnohistoric accounts, results from other approaches—including absolute (ethno-environmental models) and relative estimates (site-numbers, dates as data, etc.) allow a first positioning of the estimates within this field of research. Future enhancements, applications and testing of the Cologne Protocol are outlined and positioned within the general theoretical and methodological avenues of palaeodemographic research. In addition, we provide manuals for modelling Core Areas in MapInfo, ArcGIS, QGIS/Saga and R.

This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cross-disciplinary approaches to prehistoric demography’.

在关于人类社会的社会和文化演变的许多理论中，在特定时间和地区生活在一起的人口数量和密度是一个关键因素。由于缺乏关于过去人口发展的直接数据，人口代理的可靠性和有效性需要仔细评估，因此该主题已从几个不同的方向进行研究。本文介绍了一种用于估计史前人口规模和密度的地质统计学方法，即所谓的科隆协议，并讨论了不同空间尺度级别之间的基本理论假设和放大传递函数。我们描述和比较农业和觅食社会的具体情况，并使用示例讨论一系列历时估计，涵盖欧洲史前大约 40 kyr 的人口动态。民族历史帐户、其他方法的结果——包括绝对（民族-环境模型）和相对估计（站点编号、日期作为数据等）允许在该研究领域内对估计进行第一次定位。概述了科隆议定书未来的改进、应用和测试，并将其定位在古人口学研究的一般理论和方法学途径中。此外，我们还提供了在 M 中建模核心区域的手册 科隆议定书的应用和测试被概述并定位在古人口学研究的一般理论和方法学途径中。此外，我们还提供了在 M 中建模核心区域的手册 科隆议定书的应用和测试被概述并定位在古人口学研究的一般理论和方法学途径中。此外，我们提供了在 M 中建模核心区域的手册AP我NFO，A RC GIS，QGIS / S AGA和R.

本文是主题问题“史前人口学的跨学科方法”的一部分。