The Royal Anthropological Institute Huxley Memorial Lecture 2026

The Ecology of Human Evolution

Thomas Huxley recognised both the power of the environment in shaping humans and that civilisation depends upon combatting that power. We live at a time when this tension has never been more pressing. The climate crisis is rapidly changing the nature and distribution of resources globally, the energy from fossil fuels lies at the heart of geopolitics, and the data centres driving the digital revolutions are absorbing more and more of the word’s energy While the social inequality and instability that derives from wars, climate change and AI might be leading to a literal existential crisis for humanity, resources, their distribution and access, are critical. This contemporary situation provides a spur to re-examine the ecological drivers of human evolution. What role did ecology, resource availability, and in particular, its use, play in the evolution of the hominin lineage? Over the course of my career, the ecology of human evolution has been the central theme. In this lecture, I shall look at some of the research landmarks that have shaped my own ideas and the field more generally, and draw some conclusions about how resources have lain at the core of human evolutionary patterns and processes.

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