Rachel Stokes

Email: RStokes3@liverpool.ac.uk

Thesis Title

Modelling the Role of Climate Change in Early Human Behavioural Evolution

Institution

University of Liverpool

Supervisors

Professor Matt Grove
Professor Larry Barham

Research Summary

My research models human-climate relationships in the past, focusing on a key period of human evolution and climate change within the Middle Pleistocene. This period encompasses defining changes in human behaviour and biology underpinning the later emergence of our species, Homo sapiens, including; technological innovations, repeated use of fire, extended childhood learning, increases in brain size
and expansion in to higher latitudes. Interestingly, this follows a significant period of climate upheaval.

My research examines correlations between climate change, habitat change, and human responses, to improve our understanding of how Middle Pleistocene climate change may have influenced our evolution. Although niche models have become established in the biological sciences, their application to archaeological data requires further exploration and refinement to better understand the inherent uncertainty in the models, with implications for their interpretation. My research will examine the challenges raised by chronological uncertainty, and explore how increasing model complexity may affect reliability in these extended time-spans.

Research Interests

Human evolution
Human-climate relationships
Ecology
Sustainability

Publications

Coming soon.