Environmental Factors in the Chronology of Human Evolution and Dispersal (EFCHED)

The major objective of the EFCHED programme has been to integrate and strengthen UK research in human evolution. The rationale underlying the research and the timing of the programme was the acute awareness that studies of human evolution needed to be tied closely to the ecological and environmental expertise underpinning Quaternary science. The EFCHED programme was aimed at exploring the interface between the disciplines engaged in human evolution research. These include the classic ones of human evolutionary studies - palaeoanthropology, archaeology and palaeoecology - as well as emerging ones such as evolutionary genetics and palaeoclimatic modelling together with allied disciplines such as neoecology. The relationship between environment and evolutionary change is at the heart of EFCHED projects.