Human Origins

Liverpool has been a centre for international and interdisciplinary studies of human evolution for more than 30 years. Our current research spans the full duration of the Pleistocene record with specialists working with Acheulean, Middle Stone Age/Middle Palaeolithic, and Later Stone Age/Upper and Late Palaeolithic records. This includes research that spans Africa, Asia and Europe, ranging from synthetic studies of continental-scale records to fieldwork projects in Eastern (Kenya), Central (Zambia) and Western (Senegal, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana) Africa, Europe (United Kingdom, Malta) and Asia (India).

Our research interests integrate social theory, technological and cognitive development with the environmental record of climate change to explore how Pleistocene humans navigated their diverse and complex worlds. We have expertise in the analysis of stone tools with a dedicated lithics laboratory and program of experimental studies, in computational and quantitative approaches to studying human evolution in its climatic context, and in theoretical approaches to palaeodemography, early hominin and hunter-gatherer societies, and the broader role of technology in human evolution. We link Palaeoanthropology and Evolutionary Anthropology through the concepts of 'becoming human' in the deep time perspective of a changing world.

Group members

Research projects

aWARE Project

A program of archaeological and palaeoenvironmental fieldwork and analysis across West Africa, including Senegal, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria.

Comparative Analysis of Middle Stone Age Artefacts in Africa

Improving replicability and comparability in the quantitative assessment of stone tools.

Containers and containment technologies in the evolutionary past

Examining the technological concept of 'containment' and the role of containment technologies in the Pleistocene from both a theoretical and materials perspective (part of the collaborative project “Concepts as a Dynamic Assemblage: Cultural Evolution and the Human Way of Being”

Deep Roots of Humanity Project

Research on the Early to Middle Stone Age transition in south-central Africa (Zambia), with a focus on the emergence of combinatorial technology. Excavations undertaken at Victoria Falls and Kalambo Falls with post-excavation analyses ongoing (https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/archaeology-classics-and-egyptology/research/projects/deep-roots/)

Excavations of the Palaeolithic/Mesolithic site of Wogan Cavern Wales.

Into the Monsoon

Exploring human and animal expansions from the Saharo-Arabian Desert belt into monsoonal Asia.

IslandLab

Examining long-term legacies and feedbacks between ecological changes, societal responses and ecosystem resilience on the Maltese Islands.

Kilombe Volcano Project

Evaluating Early, Middle, and Later Stone Age occupations in the Rift Valley, Kenya and palaeoenvironmental change throughout the Pleistocene.

LATEUROPE

Examines why Acheulean hominins occupied Western Europe later than other areas of Eurasia

Lithics and Human Behaviour

Using controlled knapping conditions and modern volunteers to explore important questions in human evolution.

Stone Tools and Social Signalling

Generating data from living people to help us understand why stone tools in the past were shaped in such elaborate ways.

You are ACE

Leading children across Merseyside in excavating a replica Stone Age site, recovering artefacts and putting together projects on what they have found.

Research collaborations

We collaborate with research partners within the UK (University of Wales, University of Reading, University of Cambridge, Bournemouth University, University College London, Royal Holloway University of London, University of Sheffield, University of Edinburgh, Aberystwyth University, University of Oxford). We also work with other key UK stakeholders such as the Crosby Hall Educational Trust and IntoUniversity, helping to introduce primary local school students to archaeological topics and activities.

Our research is based on broad, global collaborations, including:

European: University of Liège [Belgium]; Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Université de Toulouse [France]; Deutsches Primatenzentrum, Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, University of Cologne, University of Potsdam [Germany]; University of Cagliari, University of Turin [Italy]; University of Malta, Superintendence of Cultural Heritage [Malta]; CENIEH, IPHES, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid [Spain]; Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology of Monaco [Monaco]; CENIEH, IPHES, Universidad Autónoma of Madrid [Spain]; University of Uppsala [Sweden].

African: l'Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny [Cote d’Ivoire]; National Museum of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa University [Ethiopia]; National Museums of Kenya [Kenya]; University of Ibadan [Nigeria]; Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar [Senegal]; l'Université Félix Houphouët-Boigny [Cote d’Ivoire]; National Museums Board, University of Zambia [Zambia].

Asian: Krea University, MSU Baroda, Anna University Chennai [India]; University of the Philippines Diliman [Philippines]; Seoul National University [Republic of Korea]; University of Sri Jayewardenepura [Sri Lanka].

North American: University of Victoria, University of Montreal [Canada]; Princeton University, Appalachian State University, University of South Florida [USA].

Oceanian: Macquarie University, Griffith University [Australia].

Select publications

Ben Arous E., Blinkhorn J.A., Elliott S., Kiahtipes C.A., N’zi C.D., Bateman M.D., Duval M., Roberts P., Patalano R., Blackwood A.F., Niang K., 2025. Humans in Africa’s wet tropical forests 150 thousand years ago. Nature.
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Lewis M.E., French J.C., Rossoni-Notter E., Notter O., Moussous A., Sparacello V., Boschin F., Ricci S., Nowell A. 2025. An assessment of puberty status in adolescents from the European Upper Palaeolithic. Journal of Human Evolution 198, 103577.
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Breton G., Barham L., Mudenda G. et al. 2024. BaTwa populations from Zambia retain ancestry of past hunter-gatherer groups. Nature Communications 15, 7307.
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Stewart M., Andrieux E., Blinkhorn J., et al. 2024. First evidence for human occupation of a lava tube in Arabia: The archaeology of Umm Jirsan Cave and its surroundings, northern Saudi Arabia, PLoS One 19, e0299292.
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Whitehead, A., Sinclair A., Scott C., 2024. Cross-Contamination via Stone Tool Use: A Pilot Study of Bifacial Butchery Tools. EXARC: The Journal of the Experimental Archaeology Society. 2024/2.
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Barham L., Duller G.A.T., Candy I. Scott C., Cartwright C. R., Peterson J. R., Kabukcu C., Chapot M. S., Melia F., Rots V., George N., Taipale N., Gethin P., Nkombwe P. 2023. Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago. Nature 622, 107–111.
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Grove M., Hall H., Timbrell L., Benton A., French J. C., 2023. Moving far or moving often? A neglected axis of variation in hunter-gatherer mobility. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports 52, 104266.
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Hoare S., Preysler J.B., Kabukcu C., Emmerich Kamper T., Sinclair A., Torres Navas C., 2023. There’s no smoke without fire: A deep time perspective on the effects of fires on air quality, human health and habitability in the Palaeolithic and prehistory. Journal of Archaeological Science Reports. 52, 104261.
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Timbrell L., Habte B., Tefera Y., Maroma C., Ndiema E., Plomp K., Blinkhorn J., Grove M. 2023. Stone point variability reveals spatial, chronological, and environmental structuring of eastern African Middle Stone Age populations. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa 59(1): 111-139.
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Key A. and Gowlett J.A.J. 2022. Intercomparison of a million-year-old and modern replicated handaxe set. Lithic Technology 48(3): 253-269.
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French J.C. 2021. Palaeolithic Europe: A Demographic and Social Prehistory. Cambridge University Press.

Opportunities

The Human Origins Research Group has expertise spanning the breadth of the Pleistocene record with diverse practical, analytical, and theoretical approaches. We invite graduate students and early career researchers to contact us to discuss potential doctoral or post-doctoral projects.

Events

Evolutionary Anthropology Webinar Series

The graduate-student led Evolutionary Anthropology Webinar Series brings together academics all over the UK (and beyond) to discuss new exciting research in human evolution studies. Each Thursday at 1-2pm, we host webinars over Zoom with a whole range of speakers, from early career researchers to world-renowned scientists and famous authors. Our webinar series is openly accessible, with links posted on our BlueSky account and our talks can be uploaded onto our YouTube channel afterwards.

Merseyside Evolution Network Distinguished Lecture Series

The Merseyside Evolutionary Network Distinguished Lecture Series (MENDLS) is a new collaboration between the Human Origins Group at the University of Liverpool and RCEAP at Liverpool John Moores University, starting in 2024. Each semester, leading figures in Evolutionary Anthropology will present a free, public lecture in person, hosted alternately by the University of Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores University, open to all who wish to attend (following registration). Recent MENDLS Lectures include:

2024/2025: Sally Reynolds ‘Using water to reconstruct hominin behaviour, habitat choice, and hunting behaviour’

2023/2024: Robert A Foley & Marta Mirazón Lahr ‘Ghostly lineages and sparse fossils: tackling the problem of hominid diversity in deep time.’