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Prof Thomas Currie
Professor in Cultural Evolution & Sustainability
01326 259028
Stella Turk Building L04 (lower ground)
University of Exeter, Penryn Campus, Penryn, TR10 9FE
Overview
My research focuses on investigating human behaviour and cultural diversity using evolutionary theory. I use statistical analyses and agent-based modelling to test competing hypotheses about how cultural traits and societies change over time, and to understand what ecological and social factors drive the evolution of social and political organization. I am particularly interested in understanding how our ability to create social rules (“institutions”) affects the evolution of cooperation and collective action in humans, and how institutions evolve over time. I also apply this framework to studying community-based conservation, and work with pastoral communities in Kenya to understand the factors affecting success or failure of different community-based projects.
Broad research specialisms:
- Cultural Evolution
- Human Evolutionary Ecology
- Community-based Conservation
- Phylogenetic Comparative Methods
Qualifications
PhD Evolutionary Anthropology (University College London),
MSc Evolutionary Psychology (University of Liverpool),
BSc Biology (University of Bristol)
Career
2018-present Associate Professor in Cultural Evolution, Centre for Ecology & Conservation Biosciences, University of Exeter, UK
2015- 2018 Senior Lecturer in Cultural Evolution, Centre for Ecology & Conservation Biosciences, University of Exeter, UK
2013-2015 Lecturer in Cultural Evolution, Centre for Ecology & Conservation Biosciences, University of Exeter, UK
2010-2013 Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Human Evolutionary Ecology Group, Department of Anthropology, University College London, UK
2009-2010 Post-Doctoral Research Fellow Hasegawa Laboratory, Evolutionary Cognitive Science Research Center, Department of Life Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan
2007 Visiting Fellow Department of Psychology, University of Auckland, New Zealand
Research group links
Research
Research projects
Publications
Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year
Key publications
Currie T, Campenni M, Ontiri E, Njagi T, Perret C, Walker L (2021). The Cultural Evolution & Ecology of Institutions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 376, 20200047-20200047. Abstract.
Currie TE, Turchin P, Turner E, Gavrilets S (2020). Duration of agriculture and distance from the steppe predict the evolution of large-scale human societies in Afro-Eurasia. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 7(1). Abstract.
Ontiri EM, Odino M, Kasanga A, Kahumbu P, Robinson LW, Currie T, Hodgson DJ (2019). Maasai pastoralists kill lions in retaliation for depredation of livestock by lions. People and Nature, 1(1), 59-69. Abstract.
Turchin P, Currie TE, Whitehouse H, Francois P, Feeney K, Mullins D, Hoyer D, Collins C, Grohmann S, Savage P, et al (2018). Quantitative historical analysis uncovers a single dimension of complexity that structures global variation in human social organization. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 115(2), E144-E151. Author URL.
Turchin P, Currie TE, Turner EAL, Gavrilets S (2013). War, space, and the evolution of Old World complex societies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(41), 16384-16389. Abstract.
Currie TE, Greenhill SJ, Gray RD, Hasegawa T, Mace R (2010). Rise and fall of political complexity in island South-East Asia and the Pacific. Nature, 467(7317), 801-804. Abstract. Author URL.
Publications by category
Journal articles
Walker L, Ontiri E, Campenni M, Perret C, Currie T (In Press). Multilevel Cultural Landscapes in Natural Resource Governance: a case study of community conservancies in Northern Kenya. Institutional Evolution & Organizational Complexity
Currie TE, Borgerhoff Mulder M, Fogarty L, Schlüter M, Folke C, Haider LJ, Caniglia G, Tavoni A, Jansen REV, Jørgensen PS, et al (2024). Integrating evolutionary theory and social-ecological systems research to address the sustainability challenges of the Anthropocene. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 379(1893). Abstract. Author URL.
Perret C, Currie TE (2023). Modelling the role of environmental circumscription in the evolution of inequality. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 378(1883). Abstract. Author URL.
Powers ST, Perret C, Currie TE (2023). Playing the political game: the coevolution of institutions with group size and political inequality. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 378(1883). Abstract. Author URL.
Rabinovich A, Walker L, Gohil D, Njagi T, Currie TE (2023). Willingness to cooperate in shared natural resource management is linked to group identification through perceived efficacy and group norms. Environmental Research Letters, 18(5).
Flitton A, Currie TE (2022). Assessing different historical pathways in the cultural evolution of economic development. Evolution and Human Behavior, 43(1), 71-82. Abstract.
Savage PE, Passmore S, Chiba G, Currie TE, Suzuki H, Atkinson QD (2022). Sequence alignment of folk song melodies reveals cross-cultural regularities of musical evolution. Curr Biol, 32(6), 1395-1402.e8. Abstract. Author URL.
Turchin P, Currie T, Collins C, Levine J, Oyebamiji O, Edwards NR, Holden PB, Hoyer D, Feeney K, François P, et al (2021). An integrative approach to estimating productivity in past societies using Seshat: Global History Databank. Holocene, 31(6), 1055-1065. Abstract.
Matsumae H, Ranacher P, Savage PE, Blasi DE, Currie TE, Koganebuchi K, Nishida N, Sato T, Tanabe H, Tajima A, et al (2021). Exploring correlations in genetic and cultural variation across language families in northeast Asia. Sci Adv, 7(34). Abstract. Author URL.
Whitehouse H, François P, Savage PE, Currie TE, Feeney KC, Cioni E, Purcell R, Ross RM, Larson J, Baines J, et al (2021). Retraction Note: Complex societies precede moralizing gods throughout world history. Nature, 595(7866). Author URL.
Currie T, Campenni M, Ontiri E, Njagi T, Perret C, Walker L (2021). The Cultural Evolution & Ecology of Institutions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 376, 20200047-20200047. Abstract.
Whitehouse H, Turchin P, François P, Savage PE, Currie TE, Feeney KC, Cioni E, Purcell R, Ross RM, Larson J, et al (2020). A New Era in the Study of Global History is Born but it Needs to be Nurtured. Journal of Cognitive Historiography, 0(0), 142-158.
Currie TE, Turchin P, Turner E, Gavrilets S (2020). Duration of agriculture and distance from the steppe predict the evolution of large-scale human societies in Afro-Eurasia. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 7(1). Abstract.
Whitehouse H, François P, Savage PE, Currie TE, Feeney KC, Cioni E, Purcell R, Ross RM, Larson J, Baines J, et al (2019). Complex societies precede moralizing gods throughout world history. Nature, 568(7751), 226-229. Abstract.
Ontiri EM, Odino M, Kasanga A, Kahumbu P, Robinson LW, Currie T, Hodgson DJ (2019). Maasai pastoralists kill lions in retaliation for depredation of livestock by lions. People and Nature, 1(1), 59-69. Abstract.
Mullins DA, Hoyer D, Collins C, Currie T, Feeney K, François P, Savage PE, Whitehouse H, Turchin P (2018). A Systematic Assessment of “Axial Age” Proposals Using Global Comparative Historical Evidence. American Sociological Review, 83(3), 596-626. Abstract.
Ellis S, Franks DW, Nattrass S, Currie TE, Cant MA, Giles D, Balcomb KC, Croft DP (2018). Analyses of ovarian activity reveal repeated evolution of post-reproductive lifespans in toothed whales. Scientific Reports, 8(1). Abstract.
Peregrine PN, Brennan R, Currie T, Feeney K, François P, Turchin P, Whitehouse H (2018). Dacura: a new solution to data harvesting and knowledge extraction for the historical sciences. Historical Methods, 51(3), 165-174. Abstract.
Francis ML, Plummer KE, Lythgoe BA, Macallan C, Currie TE, Blount JD (2018). Effects of supplementary feeding on interspecific dominance hierarchies in garden birds. PLoS ONE, 13(9). Abstract.
Turchin P, Currie TE, Whitehouse H, Francois P, Feeney K, Mullins D, Hoyer D, Collins C, Grohmann S, Savage P, et al (2018). Quantitative historical analysis uncovers a single dimension of complexity that structures global variation in human social organization. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 115(2), E144-E151. Author URL.
Currie TE, Turchin P, Whitehouse H, François P, Feeney K, Mullins D, Hoyer D, Collins C, Grohmann S, Savage P, et al (2018). Reply to tosh et al.: Quantitative analyses of cultural evolution require engagement with historical and archaeological research. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(26), E5841-E5842.
Francois P, Manning JG, Whitehouse H, Brennan R, Currie TE, Feeney K, Turchin P (2016). A Macroscope for Global History: Seshat Global History Databank, a methodological overview. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 10
Turchin P, Currie TE (2016). Cultural group selection is plausible, but the predictions of its hypotheses should be tested with real-world data. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39 Abstract.
Turchin P, Currie TE, Turner EAL (2016). Mapping the spread of mounted warfare. Cliodynamics, 7(2), 217-227. Abstract.
Currie TE, Bogaard A, Cesaretti R, Edwards N, Francois P, Holden P, Hoyer D, Korotayev A, Manning J, Moreno Garcia JC, et al (2015). Agricultural productivity in past societies: Toward an empirically informed model for testing cultural evolutionary hypotheses. Cliodynamics: the Journal of Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution, 6(1). Abstract. Author URL.
Watts J, Greenhill SJ, Atkinson QD, Currie TE, Bulbulia J, Gray RD (2015). Broad supernatural punishment but not moralizing high gods precede the evolution of political complexity in Austronesia. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, 282(1804). Author URL.
Bell AV, Currie TE, Irwin G, Bradbury C (2015). DRIVING FACTORS IN THE COLONIZATION OF OCEANIA: DEVELOPING ISLAND-LEVEL STATISTICAL MODELS TO TEST COMPETING HYPOTHESES. AMERICAN ANTIQUITY, 80(2), 397-407. Author URL.
Savage PE, Matsumae H, Oota H, Stoneking M, Currie TE, Tajima A, Gillan M, Brown S (2015). How ‘Circumpolar’ is Ainu Music? Musical and Genetic Perspectives on the History of the Japanese Archipelago. Ethnomusicology Forum, 24(3), 443-467.
Turchin P, Brennan R, Currie T, Feeney K, Francois P, Hoyer D, Manning J, Marciniak A, Mullins D, Palmisano A, et al (2015). Seshat: the Global History Databank. Cliodynamics: the Journal of Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution, 6(1). Abstract. Author URL.
Savage PE, Brown S, Sakai E, Currie TE (2015). Statistical universals reveal the structures and functions of human music. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 112(29), 8987-8992. Abstract. Author URL.
Currie TE (2014). Developing Scales of Development. Cliodynamics: the Journal of Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution, 5(1). Abstract. Author URL.
Currie TE, Mace R (2014). Evolution of cultural traits occurs at similar relative rates in different world regions. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 281(1795). Abstract. Author URL.
Opie C, Shultz S, Atkinson QD, Currie T, Mace R (2014). Phylogenetic reconstruction of Bantu kinship challenges Main Sequence Theory of human social evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Abstract.
Turchin P, Currie T, Turner EAL, Gavrilets S (2014). Reply to Thomas: Diffusion of military technologies is a plausible explanation for the evolution of social complexity, 1500 BCE–AD 1500. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111, E415-E415.
Currie TE (2013). Cultural Evolution Branches Out: the Phylogenetic Approach in Cross-Cultural Research. Cross-Cultural Research, 47(2), 102-130. Abstract.
Currie TE (2013). Cultural Evolution. How Darwinian Theory can Explain Human Culture and Synthesize the Social Sciences. ANTHROPOS, 108(1), 339-340. Author URL.
Currie TE, Meade A, Guillon M, Mace R (2013). Cultural phylogeography of the Bantu Languages of sub-Saharan Africa. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 280(1762). Abstract.
Currie TE (2013). Inequality and Institutions: a Review Essay on Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. Cliodynamics: the Journal of Theoretical and Mathematical History, 4(1). Abstract. Author URL.
Turchin P, Currie TE, Turner EAL, Gavrilets S (2013). War, space, and the evolution of Old World complex societies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(41), 16384-16389. Abstract.
Currie TE, Mace R (2012). Analyses do not support the parasite-stress theory of human sociality. Behav Brain Sci, 35(2), 83-85. Abstract. Author URL.
Currie TE, MacE R (2012). The evolution of ethnolinguistic diversity. Advances in Complex Systems, 15(1-2). Abstract.
Currie TE, Mace R (2011). Mode and tempo in the evolution of socio-political organization: reconciling 'Darwinian' and 'Spencerian' evolutionary approaches in anthropology. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 366(1567), 1108-1117. Abstract. Author URL.
Currie T (2011). The natural order?. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 9(2), 195-200.
Currie TE, Greenhill SJ, Mace R (2010). Is horizontal transmission really a problem for phylogenetic comparative methods? a simulation study using continuous cultural traits. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 365(1559), 3903-3912. Abstract. Author URL.
Currie TE, Greenhill SJ, Gray RD, Hasegawa T, Mace R (2010). Rise and fall of political complexity in island South-East Asia and the Pacific. Nature, 467(7317), 801-804. Abstract. Author URL.
Currie TE (2010). Tests in Time: a Review of Natural Experiments of History, edited by Jared Diamond and James A. Robinson. Cliodynamics, 1(1). Abstract. Author URL.
Greenhill SJ, Currie TE, Gray RD (2009). Does horizontal transmission invalidate cultural phylogenies?. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 276(1665), 2299-2306. Abstract.
Currie TE, Mace R (2009). Political complexity predicts the spread of ethnolinguistic groups. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 106(18), 7339-7344. Abstract. Author URL.
Currie TE, Little AC (2009). The relative importance of the face and body in judgments of human physical attractiveness. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30(6), 409-416. Abstract.
Chapters
Currie TE, Perret C (2023). The Cultural Evolution of Sociopolitical Organization. In (Ed) The Oxford Handbook of Cultural Evolution, Oxford University Press (OUP), c53s1-c53n2.
Currie T (2019). How the Dual Inheritance of Genes and Culture Shapes Behaviour: a Critical Review with a Focus on Human Culture and Behavioural Diversity. In Hunt J, Hosken D, Wedell N (Eds.) Genes and Behaviour: Beyond Nature‐Nurture, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 27-59. Abstract.
Currie TE, turchin P, Bednar J, Richerson PJ, Schwesinger G, Steinmo S, Wacziarg R, Wallis J (2016). Evolution of institutions and organizations. In (Ed) Complexity and Evolution Toward a New Synthesis for Economics, MIT Press.
Currie TE, Meade A (2014). Keeping Yourself Updated: Bayesian Approaches in Phylogenetic Comparative Methods with a Focus on Markov Chain Models of Discrete Character Evolution. In Garamszegi LZ (Ed) Modern Phylogenetic Comparative Methods and Their Application in Evolutionary Biology, Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Currie TE (2012). Using phylogenetic comparative methods to test hypotheses about the pattern and process of human social and political evolution. In Minaka N, Nakao H (Eds.) 文化系統学への招待―文化の進化パターンを探る(Cultural Genealogy - Exploring the Evolutionary Patterns of Culture), Keiso Shobo.
Conferences
Brennan R, Feeney K, Mendel-Gleason G, Bozic B, Turchin P, Whitehouse H, Francois P, Currie TE, Grohmann S (2016). Building the Seshat ontology for a global history databank. Abstract.
Reports
Walker L, Avery K, Borgerhoff Mulder M, Gohil D, King J, Lalampaa T, Letaapo T, Moiko S, Njeru Njagi T, Ontiri E, et al (2019). Supporting community-based natural resource management in pastoralist societies in East Africa to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Abstract.
Publications by year
In Press
Walker L, Ontiri E, Campenni M, Perret C, Currie T (In Press). Multilevel Cultural Landscapes in Natural Resource Governance: a case study of community conservancies in Northern Kenya. Institutional Evolution & Organizational Complexity
2024
Currie TE, Borgerhoff Mulder M, Fogarty L, Schlüter M, Folke C, Haider LJ, Caniglia G, Tavoni A, Jansen REV, Jørgensen PS, et al (2024). Integrating evolutionary theory and social-ecological systems research to address the sustainability challenges of the Anthropocene. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 379(1893). Abstract. Author URL.
2023
Perret C, Currie TE (2023). Modelling the role of environmental circumscription in the evolution of inequality. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 378(1883). Abstract. Author URL.
Powers ST, Perret C, Currie TE (2023). Playing the political game: the coevolution of institutions with group size and political inequality. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 378(1883). Abstract. Author URL.
Currie TE, Perret C (2023). The Cultural Evolution of Sociopolitical Organization. In (Ed) The Oxford Handbook of Cultural Evolution, Oxford University Press (OUP), c53s1-c53n2.
Rabinovich A, Walker L, Gohil D, Njagi T, Currie TE (2023). Willingness to cooperate in shared natural resource management is linked to group identification through perceived efficacy and group norms. Environmental Research Letters, 18(5).
2022
Flitton A, Currie TE (2022). Assessing different historical pathways in the cultural evolution of economic development. Evolution and Human Behavior, 43(1), 71-82. Abstract.
Gavrilets S, Currie TE (2022). Mathematical models of the evolution of institutions.
Savage PE, Passmore S, Chiba G, Currie TE, Suzuki H, Atkinson QD (2022). Sequence alignment of folk song melodies reveals cross-cultural regularities of musical evolution. Curr Biol, 32(6), 1395-1402.e8. Abstract. Author URL.
2021
Turchin P, Currie T, Collins C, Levine J, Oyebamiji O, Edwards NR, Holden PB, Hoyer D, Feeney K, François P, et al (2021). An integrative approach to estimating productivity in past societies using Seshat: Global History Databank. Holocene, 31(6), 1055-1065. Abstract.
Currie T, Campenni M, Ontiri E, Njagi T, Perret C, Walker L (2021). Code supporting the Cultural Evolution & Ecology of Institutions. Abstract.
Matsumae H, Ranacher P, Savage PE, Blasi DE, Currie TE, Koganebuchi K, Nishida N, Sato T, Tanabe H, Tajima A, et al (2021). Exploring correlations in genetic and cultural variation across language families in northeast Asia. Sci Adv, 7(34). Abstract. Author URL.
Whitehouse H, François P, Savage PE, Currie TE, Feeney KC, Cioni E, Purcell R, Ross RM, Larson J, Baines J, et al (2021). Retraction Note: Complex societies precede moralizing gods throughout world history. Nature, 595(7866). Author URL.
Currie T, Campenni M, Ontiri E, Njagi T, Perret C, Walker L (2021). The Cultural Evolution & Ecology of Institutions. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 376, 20200047-20200047. Abstract.
2020
Whitehouse H, Turchin P, François P, Savage PE, Currie TE, Feeney KC, Cioni E, Purcell R, Ross RM, Larson J, et al (2020). A New Era in the Study of Global History is Born but it Needs to be Nurtured. Journal of Cognitive Historiography, 0(0), 142-158.
Collins C, Oyebamiji O, Edwards NR, Holden PB, Williams A, Jordan G, Hoyer D, Grohman S, Savage PE, Francois P, et al (2020). Combining historical and archaeological data with crop models to estimate agricultural productivity in past societies.
Currie TE, Turchin P, Turner E, Gavrilets S (2020). Duration of agriculture and distance from the steppe predict the evolution of large-scale human societies in Afro-Eurasia. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 7(1). Abstract.
Savage PE, Passmore S, Chiba G, Currie TE, Suzuki H, Atkinson Q (2020). Sequence alignment of folk song melodies reveals cross-cultural regularities of musical evolution.
2019
Whitehouse H, François P, Savage PE, Currie TE, Feeney K, Cioni E, Purcell R, Ross RM, Larson J, Baines J, et al (2019). A new era in the study of global history is born but it needs to be nurtured.
Turchin P, Currie TE, Collins C, Levine J, Oyebamiji O, Edwards NR, Holden PB, Hoyer D, Feeney K, Francois P, et al (2019). An Integrative Approach to Estimating Productivity in Past Societies using Seshat: Global History Databank.
Whitehouse H, François P, Savage PE, Currie TE, Feeney KC, Cioni E, Purcell R, Ross RM, Larson J, Baines J, et al (2019). Complex societies precede moralizing gods throughout world history. Nature, 568(7751), 226-229. Abstract.
Matsumae H, Ranacher P, Savage PE, Blasi DE, Currie TE, Kognebuchi K, Nishida N, Sato T, Tanabe H, Tajima A, et al (2019). Exploring correlations in genetic and cultural variation across language families in Northeast Asia.
Currie TE, Turchin P, Gavrilets S (2019). History of agriculture and intensity of warfare shaped the evolution of large-scale human societies in Afro-Eurasia.
Currie T (2019). How the Dual Inheritance of Genes and Culture Shapes Behaviour: a Critical Review with a Focus on Human Culture and Behavioural Diversity. In Hunt J, Hosken D, Wedell N (Eds.) Genes and Behaviour: Beyond Nature‐Nurture, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 27-59. Abstract.
Ontiri EM, Odino M, Kasanga A, Kahumbu P, Robinson LW, Currie T, Hodgson DJ (2019). Maasai pastoralists kill lions in retaliation for depredation of livestock by lions. People and Nature, 1(1), 59-69. Abstract.
Savage PE, Whitehouse H, François P, Currie TE, Feeney K, Cioni E, Purcell R, Ross RM, Larson J, Baines J, et al (2019). Reply to Beheim et al.: Reanalyses confirm robustness of original analyses.
Walker L, Avery K, Borgerhoff Mulder M, Gohil D, King J, Lalampaa T, Letaapo T, Moiko S, Njeru Njagi T, Ontiri E, et al (2019). Supporting community-based natural resource management in pastoralist societies in East Africa to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Abstract.
Flitton A (2019). The Cultural Evolution of Economic Development. Abstract.
2018
Mullins DA, Hoyer D, Collins C, Currie T, Feeney K, François P, Savage PE, Whitehouse H, Turchin P (2018). A Systematic Assessment of “Axial Age” Proposals Using Global Comparative Historical Evidence. American Sociological Review, 83(3), 596-626. Abstract.
Ellis S, Franks DW, Nattrass S, Currie TE, Cant MA, Giles D, Balcomb KC, Croft DP (2018). Analyses of ovarian activity reveal repeated evolution of post-reproductive lifespans in toothed whales. Scientific Reports, 8(1). Abstract.
Peregrine PN, Brennan R, Currie T, Feeney K, François P, Turchin P, Whitehouse H (2018). Dacura: a new solution to data harvesting and knowledge extraction for the historical sciences. Historical Methods, 51(3), 165-174. Abstract.
Francis ML, Plummer KE, Lythgoe BA, Macallan C, Currie TE, Blount JD (2018). Effects of supplementary feeding on interspecific dominance hierarchies in garden birds. PLoS ONE, 13(9). Abstract.
Turchin P, Whitehouse H, Korotayev A, Francois P, Hoyer D, Peregrine P, Feinman G, Spencer C, Kradin N, Currie TE, et al (2018). Evolutionary Pathways to Statehood: Old Theories and New Data.
Flitton A, Currie TE (2018). Long-run historical and ecological determinants of economic development mediated by the cultural evolution of effective institutions.
Turchin P, Currie TE, Whitehouse H, Francois P, Feeney K, Mullins D, Hoyer D, Collins C, Grohmann S, Savage P, et al (2018). Quantitative historical analysis uncovers a single dimension of complexity that structures global variation in human social organization. PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 115(2), E144-E151. Author URL.
Currie TE, Turchin P, Whitehouse H, François P, Feeney K, Mullins D, Hoyer D, Collins C, Grohmann S, Savage P, et al (2018). Reply to tosh et al.: Quantitative analyses of cultural evolution require engagement with historical and archaeological research. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 115(26), E5841-E5842.
2017
Mullins DA, Hoyer D, Collins C, Currie TE, Feeney K, François P, Savage PE, Whitehouse H, Turchin P (2017). A systematic assessment of 'Axial Age' proposals using global comparative historical evidence.
2016
Francois P, Manning JG, Whitehouse H, Brennan R, Currie TE, Feeney K, Turchin P (2016). A Macroscope for Global History: Seshat Global History Databank, a methodological overview. Digital Humanities Quarterly, 10
Brennan R, Feeney K, Mendel-Gleason G, Bozic B, Turchin P, Whitehouse H, Francois P, Currie TE, Grohmann S (2016). Building the Seshat ontology for a global history databank. Abstract.
Turchin P, Currie TE (2016). Cultural group selection is plausible, but the predictions of its hypotheses should be tested with real-world data. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 39 Abstract.
Currie TE, turchin P, Bednar J, Richerson PJ, Schwesinger G, Steinmo S, Wacziarg R, Wallis J (2016). Evolution of institutions and organizations. In (Ed) Complexity and Evolution Toward a New Synthesis for Economics, MIT Press.
Turchin P, Currie TE, Turner EAL (2016). Mapping the spread of mounted warfare. Cliodynamics, 7(2), 217-227. Abstract.
2015
Currie TE, Bogaard A, Cesaretti R, Edwards N, Francois P, Holden P, Hoyer D, Korotayev A, Manning J, Moreno Garcia JC, et al (2015). Agricultural productivity in past societies: Toward an empirically informed model for testing cultural evolutionary hypotheses. Cliodynamics: the Journal of Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution, 6(1). Abstract. Author URL.
Watts J, Greenhill SJ, Atkinson QD, Currie TE, Bulbulia J, Gray RD (2015). Broad supernatural punishment but not moralizing high gods precede the evolution of political complexity in Austronesia. PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, 282(1804). Author URL.
Bell AV, Currie TE, Irwin G, Bradbury C (2015). DRIVING FACTORS IN THE COLONIZATION OF OCEANIA: DEVELOPING ISLAND-LEVEL STATISTICAL MODELS TO TEST COMPETING HYPOTHESES. AMERICAN ANTIQUITY, 80(2), 397-407. Author URL.
Savage PE, Matsumae H, Oota H, Stoneking M, Currie TE, Tajima A, Gillan M, Brown S (2015). How ‘Circumpolar’ is Ainu Music? Musical and Genetic Perspectives on the History of the Japanese Archipelago. Ethnomusicology Forum, 24(3), 443-467.
Turchin P, Brennan R, Currie T, Feeney K, Francois P, Hoyer D, Manning J, Marciniak A, Mullins D, Palmisano A, et al (2015). Seshat: the Global History Databank. Cliodynamics: the Journal of Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution, 6(1). Abstract. Author URL.
Savage PE, Brown S, Sakai E, Currie TE (2015). Statistical universals reveal the structures and functions of human music. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 112(29), 8987-8992. Abstract. Author URL.
2014
Currie TE (2014). Developing Scales of Development. Cliodynamics: the Journal of Quantitative History and Cultural Evolution, 5(1). Abstract. Author URL.
Currie TE, Mace R (2014). Evolution of cultural traits occurs at similar relative rates in different world regions. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 281(1795). Abstract. Author URL.
Currie TE, Meade A (2014). Keeping Yourself Updated: Bayesian Approaches in Phylogenetic Comparative Methods with a Focus on Markov Chain Models of Discrete Character Evolution. In Garamszegi LZ (Ed) Modern Phylogenetic Comparative Methods and Their Application in Evolutionary Biology, Berlin Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag.
Opie C, Shultz S, Atkinson QD, Currie T, Mace R (2014). Phylogenetic reconstruction of Bantu kinship challenges Main Sequence Theory of human social evolution. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Abstract.
Turchin P, Currie T, Turner EAL, Gavrilets S (2014). Reply to Thomas: Diffusion of military technologies is a plausible explanation for the evolution of social complexity, 1500 BCE–AD 1500. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111, E415-E415.
2013
Currie TE (2013). Cultural Evolution Branches Out: the Phylogenetic Approach in Cross-Cultural Research. Cross-Cultural Research, 47(2), 102-130. Abstract.
Currie TE (2013). Cultural Evolution. How Darwinian Theory can Explain Human Culture and Synthesize the Social Sciences. ANTHROPOS, 108(1), 339-340. Author URL.
Currie TE, Meade A, Guillon M, Mace R (2013). Cultural phylogeography of the Bantu Languages of sub-Saharan Africa. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 280(1762). Abstract.
Currie TE (2013). Inequality and Institutions: a Review Essay on Why Nations Fail by Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson. Cliodynamics: the Journal of Theoretical and Mathematical History, 4(1). Abstract. Author URL.
Turchin P, Currie TE, Turner EAL, Gavrilets S (2013). War, space, and the evolution of Old World complex societies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(41), 16384-16389. Abstract.
2012
Currie TE, Mace R (2012). Analyses do not support the parasite-stress theory of human sociality. Behav Brain Sci, 35(2), 83-85. Abstract. Author URL.
Currie TE, MacE R (2012). The evolution of ethnolinguistic diversity. Advances in Complex Systems, 15(1-2). Abstract.
Currie TE (2012). Using phylogenetic comparative methods to test hypotheses about the pattern and process of human social and political evolution. In Minaka N, Nakao H (Eds.) 文化系統学への招待―文化の進化パターンを探る(Cultural Genealogy - Exploring the Evolutionary Patterns of Culture), Keiso Shobo.
2011
Currie TE, Mace R (2011). Mode and tempo in the evolution of socio-political organization: reconciling 'Darwinian' and 'Spencerian' evolutionary approaches in anthropology. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 366(1567), 1108-1117. Abstract. Author URL.
Currie T (2011). The natural order?. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology, 9(2), 195-200.
2010
Currie TE, Greenhill SJ, Mace R (2010). Is horizontal transmission really a problem for phylogenetic comparative methods? a simulation study using continuous cultural traits. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 365(1559), 3903-3912. Abstract. Author URL.
Currie TE, Greenhill SJ, Gray RD, Hasegawa T, Mace R (2010). Rise and fall of political complexity in island South-East Asia and the Pacific. Nature, 467(7317), 801-804. Abstract. Author URL.
Currie TE (2010). Tests in Time: a Review of Natural Experiments of History, edited by Jared Diamond and James A. Robinson. Cliodynamics, 1(1). Abstract. Author URL.
2009
Greenhill SJ, Currie TE, Gray RD (2009). Does horizontal transmission invalidate cultural phylogenies?. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 276(1665), 2299-2306. Abstract.
Currie TE, Mace R (2009). Political complexity predicts the spread of ethnolinguistic groups. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 106(18), 7339-7344. Abstract. Author URL.
Currie TE, Little AC (2009). The relative importance of the face and body in judgments of human physical attractiveness. Evolution and Human Behavior, 30(6), 409-416. Abstract.
Thomas_Currie Details from cache as at 2023-12-05 13:24:57
External Engagement and Impact
Awards/Honorary fellowships
2007 New Investigator Award, Human Behavior and Evolution Society
Explaining the Latitudinal Gradient in Human Cultural Diversity
Committee/panel activities
2006-2008 Treasurer of the London Evolutionary Research Network; society for post-graduate students engaged in evolutionary research
Editorial responsibilities
2014 - present Book Review Editor. Cliodynamics: The Journal of Theoretical and Mathematical History
2013 - present Thematic Editor for Resources, Seshat: A Historical Database of Cultural Evolution
2006 - present Academic Journal Reviewer
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS), Proceedings of the Royal Society B, Current Anthropology, Evolution and Human Behavior, American Anthropologist, PLOS One, Human Nature: An Interdisciplinary Biosocial Perspective,
Invited lectures
2014 Department of Biology, University of Edinburgh, UK (invited seminar)
2013 Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of Cambridge, UK. Student Conference. (Keynote talk)
2013 NIMBioS, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA. (invited seminar)
2013 phyloseminar.org, (invited online seminar)
2012 Royal Society, Kavli Centre, Bucks, UK (invited workshop presentation)
2012 AnthroTree workshop. University of Amherst, MA, USA. (invited lecture)
2012 NIMBioS, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, USA. (invited conference presentation)
2012 Department of Anthropology, University College London, University College London, UK. (invited seminar)
2010 AHRC Centre for the Evolution of Cultural Diversity, UCL, UK. (invited conference presentation)
2010 Tokyo Institute of Technology, Ookayama Campus, Tokyo, Japan (invited conference presentation)
2010 Department of Environmental Science & Policy, University of California, Davis, USA. (invited seminar)
2010 Human Behavior and Evolution Society of Japan, University of Kyoto, Japan. (invited workshop presentation)
2010 Graduate University for Advanced Studies: Sokendai, Hayama, Japan. (invited workshop presentation)
2009 Department of Evolutionary Studies of Biosystems. The Graduate University for Advanced Studies: Sokendai, Hayama, Japan. (invited seminar)
2009 National Institute of Genetics, Mishima, Japan. (invited seminar)
2008 British Association for the Advancement of Science Festival of Science, University of Liverpool, UK. (invited conference presentation)
Media Coverage
Nature (News & Views) - “Political Evolution” by Jared Diamond. From Nature issue 467. Published 14 October, 2010. Link
Nature (Podcast) – Interview about the paper Rise and fall of political complexity in island South-East Asia and the Pacific by Currie et al. Published October 14, 2010. Link
Nature (News) – “Societies evolve in steps” by Kerri Smith. Published online October 13, 2010. Link
Discover Magazine - “How Societies Slowly Rise—and Suddenly Fall” by Andrew Curry. From the April 2011 issue; published online June 16, 2011 Link
Wired - “Culture Evolves Slowly, Falls Apart Quickly” by Brandon Keim. Published October 13, 2010. Link
TPM (The Philosopher’s Magazine) – “Do Societies Evolve?” by Mat Iredale. From issue 52. Published February 7, 2011. Link
The Columbus Dispatch – “Measuring a society's political evolution” by Bradley T. Lepper. Published December 5, 2010. Link
PlanetEarth Online – “Faces more important than bodies in mating game” by Tom Marshall. Published September 25, 2009 Link
Workshops/Conferences organised
2014 Workshop Organizer 'Modelling Agricultural Productivity in Historic and Prehsitoric Societies', University of Oxford
2008 Symposium Organizer ‘Cultural Phylogenetics: Cultural Evolution branches out’
Symposium, Human Behaviour & Evolution Society, University of Kyoto, Japan
2007 Workshop Organizer ‘Modern Approaches to Investigating Cultural Evolution’
one-day workshop, University College London, UK
Supervision / Group
Postdoctoral researchers
- Christina Collins
Postgraduate researchers
- Adam Flitton ESRC
- Alice Williams NERC