Evolution & ecology
The evolution and ecology theme engages biological anthropologists and archaeologists in research that examines human and primate behavioural, cognitive, life history and morphological diversity through time and across space. Research in this theme addresses questions about how humans came to be, who we are from an evolutionary perspective and what that means for us today, how our environment and ecology shape our bodies, behaviours, minds, and health, and what we can learn about human evolution through studying great ape behavioural flexibility and communication. Our researchers and students employ cutting edge technologies including three-dimensional imaging and analysis, acoustic monitoring, and camera trapping. They infer behaviour from archaeological materials, examine and interpret cave art to reconstruct forms of communication, and explore human environments of the past. Our research spans from the terminal Pleistocene through the Holocene, across major transitions such as the onset of agriculture and animal domestication, and includes people living today. Much of our work is done in collaboration and partnership with descendent communities.
Given wide-ranging interest in these issues, this theme engages anthropology faculty and students with other departments and schools of the university, institutions around the world, and with the broader public.
Faculty researchers
- Daryl Fedje
- Ammie Kalan
- Helen Kurki
- Yin Lam
- Quentin Mackie
- Iain McKechnie
- Lisa Mitchell
- Alison Murray
- April Nowell
Recent publications
2024 - Nowell, April and Skala, Aurora. The well-dressed hominin: clothing, tanning, and textile production in the Paleolithic. In , edited by Benjamin R. Collins and April Nowell. New York: Berghahn Books.
2023 - Kalan, AK; Nakano, R and Warshawski, L. . American Journal of Primatology. (Top 10 Most Downloaded Papers of 2023)
2023 - Nowell, April. . Annual Review of Anthropology 52.
2022 - Hansen, M; Kalan, AK; Riley, E; Waters, S. . Primate Conservation. 36.
2022 - Kubicka, Anna Maria, Wragg-Sykes, Rebecca, Nowell, April and Nelson, Emma. Neanderthal sexual behaviour. In , Volume 4, edited by Todd K. Shackelford. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
2022 - French, Jennifer and Nowell, April. . Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 67.
2022 - Gustas, R.H., I. McKechnie, Q. Mackie, and C.T. Darimont. . Advances in Archaeological Practice 10:200–214.
2022 - Hillis, D., R. Gustas, D. Pauly, W.W.L. Cheung, A.K. Salomon, and I. McKechnie. . Environmental Biology of Fishes.
2022 - Reeder-Myers, L.A., T.J. Braje, C.A. Hofman, E.A. Elliot Smith, C. Garland, M. A. Grone, C. Hadden, M. Hatch, T. Hunt, A. Kelley, M.J. LeFebvre, I. McKechnie, I. J. McNiven, B. Newsom, T. Pluckhahn, G.M. Sanchez, M. Schwadron, K.Y. Smith, T. Smith, A. Spiess, G. Tayac, T. Vollman, E.M. Weitzel, and T.C. Rick. . Nature Communications 13:2383.
2022 - Duffield, S., J. Walkus, E. White, I. McKechnie, Q. Mackie, D. McLaren. American Antiquity 87(1):168-183.
2022 - Slade, E., I. McKechnie, A.K. Salomon. . Ecosystems 25:548–566.
2021 - Anders, F; Kalan, AK; Kühl, H; Fuchs, M. . Ecological Informatics. 65: 101423.
2021 - Nowell, April, Kurki, Helen and Mitchell, Lisa M. Conceiving reproduction in archaeology. In Routledge Handbook on Anthropology and Reproduction, edited by Sallie Han and Cecelia Tomori. London: Routledge, pp. 68-84.
2021 - Henson, L.H., N. Balkenhol, R. Gustas, M. Adams, J. Walkus, W.G. Housty, A. Vik Stronen, J. Moody, C. Service, D. Reece, B. VonHoldt, I. McKechnie, B.F. Koop, C.T. Darimont. . Ecology and Society 26(3).
2021 Longman, D, Murray, A., Roberts, R., Oakley, S., Stock, J.T., Wells, J. . Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
2021 - Riede, Felix, Walsh, Matthew J., Nowell, April, Langley, Michelle and Johannsen, Niels N. . Evolutionary Human Sciences 2.
2020 - Kalan AK, Kulik L, Arandjelovic M, et al. . Nature Communications.
2020 - Boesch C, Kalan AK, Mundry R, et al. . Nature Human Behaviour 4: 910-916.
2020 - Hillis, D., I. McKechnie, E. Guiry, D. St. Claire and C.T. Darimont. . Scientific Reports 10:15630.
2020 - I. McKechnie, M.L. Moss, and S.J. Crockford. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 60:101209.
2020 - Nowell, April and French, Jennifer. . Evolutionary Human Sciences 2 (e36): 1-24.
2020 - Nowell, April. . Journal of Anthropological Research 76(2): 232-250.
2020 - Nowell, April and Kurki, Helen. Moving beyond the obstetrical dilemma hypothesis: birth, weaning and infant care in the Plio-Pleistocene. In The Mother-Infant Nexus in Anthropology: Small beginnings, significant outcomes, edited by Sian Halcrow and Rebecca Gowland. New York: Springer, pp. 173-190.
2020 - Murray, A.A. and Stock, J.T. . American Journal of Physical nthropology. Vol.173(2), p.258-275
2020 – Longman, D.P, Macintosh Murray, A.A., Roberts, R., Oakley, S, Wells, J.C.K., Stock, J.T. . Evolutionlary Human Sciences. Vol. 1, e16
2019 - Kalan AK, Carmignani E, Kronland-Martinet R, Ystad S, Aramaki M. . Biology Letters 15 (12), 20190747.
2019 - Kühl HS, Boesch C, Kulik L, .…(77 authors), Kalan AK. . Science 363: 1453-1455.
2019 - Kalan AK, Hohmann G, Arandjelovic M, et al. . Current Biology 29: 1211-1217.
2019 - Macintosh, A.A. and Stock, J.T. . American Journal of Physical Anthropology 168:566-581.
2018 - Fedje, D., D. McLaren, T.S. James, Q. Mackie, N.F. Smith, J.R. Southon and A.P. Mackie. A revised sea level history for the Northern Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, Canada. Quaternary Science Reviews 192:300–316.
2018 - Macintosh, A.A., Wells, J.C.K., Stock, J.T. . Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health: 167-189.
2018 - Payne, S., Kumar BC, Rajendra, Pomeroy, E., Macintosh, A.A., Stock, J.T. . Royal Society Open Science 5:172-174.
2018 - ayne, S., Macintosh, A.A., Stock, J.T. . American Journal of Physical Anthropology 166:875-883.
2018 - Payne, S., Macintosh, A.A., Stock, J.T. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 166:803-811.
2018 - Payne, S., Macintosh, A.A., Stock, J.T. . American Journal of Physical Anthropology 166:313-322.
2018 - Pomeroy, E., Macintosh, A.A., Wells, J.C.K., Cole, T.J., Stock, J.T. . American Journal of Physical Anthropology 166:56-69.
2018 - Mackie, Quentin, Daryl Fedje and Duncan McLaren. Archaeology and sea level change on the British Columbia coast. Canadian Journal of Archaeology/Journal Canadien d’Archéologie 42:74–91.
2018 - Rodrigues, A.T., Iain McKechnie, & D.Y. Yang. . PLoS ONE 13(2).
2018 - McLaren, D., D. Fedje, A. Dyck, Q. Mackie, A. Gauvreau and J. Cohen. Terminal Pleistocene Epoch human footprints from the Pacific coast of Canada. PLOS ONE13:e0193522.
2018 - Assefa, Z., A. Asrat, E. Hovers, Y. Lam, O. Pearson and D. Pleurdeau. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 17:723-729.