Staff profile

Research Profile

I am an evolutionary anthropologist and human behavioural ecologist, interested in hunter-gatherer egalitarianism, subsistance transition, and the use and abuse of signalling theory. I conduct fieldwork with the Hadza, a population in northern Tanzania who have traditionally subsisted through hunting and gathering.

I am a Leverhulme funded ECR research fellow and assistant professor in the department, investigating subsistance transition and the soceo-ecologocal correlates of forager egalitarianism. Between 2020-2022 I worked as a postdoctoral research fellow on the 'Culture of Schooling' project in collaberation with Dr Coren Apicella (UPenn) investigating the impacts of Hadza engagemement with formal education. Between 2017-2019 I worked at Durham as a teaching fellow.

More information about my research interests and my work can be found in this interview.

Short Biography

• 2020-Present: Assistant Professorship (Research), Durham University
• 2019-2020: Honourary Fellowship, Durham University
• 2017-2019: Teaching Fellowship, Durham University
• 2012-2017: PhD in Evolutionary Anthropology, University of Cambridge, supervised by Frank Marlowe and Robert Attenborough
• 2008-2011: BA/MA in Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge

• Forager Egalitarianism
• Signalling Theory
• Food Sharing
• Hunter Gatherer Subsistence Ecology
• Hunting Skill

• 2022: Editorial Board, Human Nature:

Chapter in book

• Stibbard-Hawkes, Duncan N E (2020). Egalitarianism and democratized access to lethal weaponry: a neglected approach. In Social inequality before farming? Multidisciplinary approaches to the study of social organization in prehistoric and ethnograpic hunter-gatherer-fisher societies. Moreau, Luc Cambridge: McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. 83-102.

Journal Article

• Stibbard-Hawkes, Duncan N.E., Amir, Dorsa & Apicella, Coren L. (2023). A cost for signaling: do Hadza hunter-gatherers forgo calories to show-off in an experimental context? Evolution and Human Behavior
• Stibbard‐Hawkes, Duncan N. E. & Apicella, Coren L. (2022). Myopia rates among Hadza hunter‐gatherers are low but not exceptional. American Journal of Biological Anthropology 179(4): 655-667.
• Stibbard-Hawkes, Duncan N.E., Smith, Kristopher & Apicella, Coren L. (2022). Why hunt? Why gather? Why share? Hadza assessments of foraging and food-sharing motive. Evolution and Human Behavior 43(3): 257-272.
• Stagnaro, Michael N., Stibbard-Hawkes, Duncan N. E. & Apicella, Coren L. (2022). Do religious and market-based institutions promote cooperation in Hadza hunter-gatherers? Religion, Brain & Behavior 12(1-2): 171-189.
• Stibbard‐Hawkes, Duncan N. E. & Attenborough, Robert D. (2021). Some omissions, few confusions. A reply to Pinheiro 2021. American Journal of Physical Anthropology
• Stibbard‐Hawkes, Duncan N. E., Attenborough, Robert D., Mabulla, Ibrahim A. & Marlowe, Frank W. (2020). To the hunter go the spoils? No evidence of nutritional benefit to being or marrying a well‐reputed Hadza hunter. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 173(1): 61.
• Stibbard-Hawkes, Duncan N. E. (2020). No Association between 2D:4D Ratio and Hunting Success among Hadza Hunters. Human Nature 31(1): 22.
• Stibbard-Hawkes, Duncan N.E. (2019). Costly signaling and the handicap principle in hunter-gatherer research: A critical review. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews
• Stibbard-Hawkes, Duncan N.E., Attenborough, Robert D. & Marlowe, Frank W. (2018). A Noisy Signal: To what extent are Hadza hunting reputations predictive of actual hunting skills? Evolution and Human Behavior 39(6): 639-651.