Hominin dispersals in the Pliocene and Pleistocene have led to repeated range expansions of multiple human species, some with significant niche constructing behaviours. There is little doubt that humans have dramatically transformed global ecosystems since the adoption of agriculture by many societies in the Holocene. Beyond megafaunal extinctions, however, little attention has been paid to how pre-Holocene societies and our earlier hominin ancestors may have modified ecosystems as a consequence of subsistence-related activities and other pursuits. Evidence is reviewed here to demonstrate that the subsistence activities of hominins did in fact have an effect on local and regional environments as humans expanded their niches and territorial ranges in the Pliocene and Pleistocene. Evidence for the transformation of local ecologies in the Upper Palaeolithic of Europe is particularly convincing. Hominins also shaped their habitats through the use of fire and through the procurement and quarrying of raw materials for stone tool manufacture. Anthropogenic transformation of the natural world would appear to have begun in the Pliocene and Pleistocene, albeit on a different scale than in later periods.