Previously different hominid species had shared the world, even living within the same local environments. This theme demands an interdisciplinary approach. Human evolution involving the insights of biological anthropology plays a key role, coupled with corresponding information from palaeobiologists on a wider range of species. Long-term climatic archives provide precision and a yardstick for environmental selection, and need to be further correlated with terrestrial records. Improved high precision methods of dating remain central.
Environmental science provides a context for tackling global and local issues.
Biomolecular approaches continue to challenge existing assumptions by providing new assessments of diversity and relatedness among modern and past populations. Palaeolithic archaeology with its interest in reconstructing demographic systems is an equal partner. High performance computing plays an increasingly important role in quantifying, modelling and predicting the impact of climatic variables on human dispersal and population distribution, and vice versa. Integrating these diverse disciplines will enhance the UK's science base, and provide a capability to better understand human response to global environmental change. The opportunities for training a new generation of interdisciplinary environmental scientists are particularly strong.