The focus of research in LCHES is the integration of biological, anthropological and archaeological approaches to the study of human evolution and human diversity. It grew out of the work of the King's College Research Centre project on the the Evolution of Human Diversity.   [read more]

The Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies was established in 2000 to promote the research in human evolution and diversity. Funding has come from the Leverhulme Trust, the Wellcome Trust, the American Friends of the University of Cambridge and the University of Cambridge.   [read more]

The Centre also houses the Duckworth Laboratory, which is one of the major human biological collections in the world, and is available for application to study from scientists around the world.  

News

2017 University of Cambridge Science Festival

The Leverhulme Centre for Human Evolutionary Studies will open our doors and collections to the public for the 2017 University of Cambridge Science Festival.
[click here for more details]

Research Assistant/Research Associate in Individual-Based Modelling in Human Evolutionary Studies

Deadline for applications 12 March 2017   

The aim of this research is to is to develop a new approach, based on simulation models to strengthen inferences from prehistoric stone tool assemblages. The work of the Research Assistant will be to develop and test the simulation models. [more details]

Virtual fossil’ reveals last common ancestor of humans and Neanderthals
Aurélien Mounier and Marta Mirazon Lahr computed 3 virtual last common ancestors to Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalensis, the three vLCAs can be viewed and downloaded from the following web page.

Echoes of Ancient War
In a paper published in Nature (21 January 2016) Marta Mirazón Lahr and colleagues report on a site in South West Turkana, Kenya, where skeletal remains of twenty-seven individuals were recovered. These are dated to 10,000 years ago, and many show clear evidence of having been killed violently. This site, Nataruk, provides evidence for inter-group conflict among hunter-gatherers, and so contributes to our understanding of the history of warfare, showing clearly that hunter-gatherers, as well as food-producers, enaged in organised and lethal conflict.   [ http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v529/n7586/full/nature16477.html ]
[video https://youtu.be/pBs8PjwkwAo] The work was carried out as part of the ERC In-Africa Project http:\in-africa.org

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