Dr Stephen Lycett received a PhD in Biological Anthropology from the University of Cambridge. This followed an M.Sc. in Human Evolution from University College London and a B.A. (Hons.) in Archaeology & Prehistory from the University of Sheffield. Prior to coming to Kent he was a Post-Doctoral Fellow of the British Academy's Centenary Research Project, "Lucy to Language".

Dr Lycett's research traverses the disciplinary boundaries of Palaeoanthropology, Biological Anthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology. He has published on a broad range of issues including cultural evolution, morphometrics, lithic analysis, hominin dispersals, hominid phylogenetics and species identification in the fossil record. He is particularly interested in cultural transmission theory and how associated techniques of analysis (e.g. cladistics) can help shed light on the evolution of material culture. Recently, he has used such methods to test hypotheses relating to long-standing issues such as the so-called 'Movius Line', and to investigate the evolution of chimpanzee culture.

Recent Publications

Lycett, S.J. & von Cramon-Taubadel, N. (2013). Understanding the comparative catarrhine context of human pelvic form: a 3D geometric morphometric analysis. Journal of Human Evolution 64 (4): 300–310.

Lycett, S.J. & Eren, M.I. (2013). Levallois economics: an examination of ‘waste’ production in experimentally produced Levallois reduction sequences.  Journal of Archaeological Science 40 (5): 2384–2392.

Lycett, S.J. (2013). Cultural transmission theory and fossil hominin behaviour: A discussion of epistemological and methodological strengths. In: Ellen, R.F., Lycett, S.J. & Johns, S.E. (Eds.), pp.102-130. Understanding Cultural Transmission in Anthropology: A Critical Synthesis. Berghahn: New York/Oxford.

Betti, L., von Cramon-Taubadel, N., Manica, A. & Lycett, S.J. (2013). Global geometric morphometric analyses of the human pelvis reveal substantial neutral population history effects, even across sexes. PLoS ONE 8 (2)/e55909: 1–10.

Lycett, S.J. & von Cramon-Taubadel, N. (2013). A 3D morphometric analysis of surface geometry in Levallois cores: Patterns of stability and variability across regions and their implications. Journal of Archaeological Science 40 (3): 1508–1517.

Kempe, M., Lycett, S.J. & Mesoudi, A. (2012). An experimental test of the accumulated copying error model of cultural mutation for Acheulean handaxe size. PLoS ONE 7 (11)/e48333: 1–7.

Eriksson, A., Betti, L., Friend, A.D., Lycett, S.J., Singarayer, J.S., von Cramon-Taubadel, N., Valdes, P.J., Balloux, F., Manica, A. (2012). Late Pleistocene climate change and the global expansion of anatomically modern humans. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 109 (40): 16089–16094.

Betti, L., von Cramon-Taubadel, N. & Lycett, S.J. (2012). Human pelvis and long bones reveal differential preservation of ancient population history and migration out of Africa. Human Biology 84 (2): 139–152.

Wang, W., Lycett, S.J., von Cramon-Taubadel, N., Jin, J.J.H., Bae, C.J. (2012). Comparison of handaxes from Bose Basin (China) and the western Acheulean indicates convergence of form, not cognitive differences. PLoS ONE 7 (4)/e35804: 1–7.

Eren, M.I. & Lycett, S.J. (2012). Why Levallois? A morphometric comparison of experimental ‘preferential’ Levallois flakes versus debitage flakes. PLoS ONE 7 (1)/e29273: 1–10.

Full list of publications 

Teaching Interests: Human evolution; biological anthropology; research methods; hominin behaviour and cognition; cultural evolution; the Palaeolithic.

Dr Lycett teaches on the following modules:

SE581 - Biological Anthropology: The Human Animal (Convenor)

SE541 - The Evolution of Hominin Behaviour (Convenor)

SE302 - Foundations of Biological Anthropology

SE533 - Projects in Anthropological Science

SE570 - Current Issues in Evolutionary Anthropology