Changing Climate, Human Evolution, and the Revival of Environmental Determinism

The role of climatic change in determining the shape of human evolution,<br/>a theme that came to prominence during the early years of the twentieth<br/>century, has resurfaced with renewed vigor. The author examines the rise and<br/>resurgence of the modern history of the idea that hominid evolutionary pathways<br/>have been triggered by climatic causes to illustrate the continuing vitality of environmental determinism and to highlight some continuities between early-twentieth century and contemporary archaeoanthropology.