Katerina Harvati is senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology and adjunct Associate Professor at the Anthropology Department of the City University of New York Graduate School. Dr. Harvati is a paleoanthropologist specializing in Neanderthal evolution and modern human origins. Her broader research interests include primate and human evolution, evolutionary theory, life history and paleolithic archaeology. She has conducted fieldwork in Europe and Africa and is currently directing paleoanthropological research in Northern Greece. Her work has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA), the Journal of Human Evolution, the American Journal of Physical Anthropology and elsewhere.

Terry Harrison is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for the Study of Human Origins at New York University. His main research interests include all aspects of human and primate evolution. He has conducted paleontological field research in Europe, East Africa, and Asia, and he is currently directing research at the early hominin locality of Laetoli in Tanzania. He has published extensively on the evolutionary relationships and paleobiology of Miocene hominoids, East African vertebrate paleontology, and comparative anatomy. He is the editor of Neogene Paleontology of the Manonga Valley, Tanzania (Plenum Press).

The first edited volume to present an in-depth view of a variety of research topics in Neanderthal paleobiology and to incorporate the recent advances in Neanderthal and modern human origins research

These breakthroughs include ancient DNA research, the study of detailed paleoenvironmental records and their relationship to paleoanthropological data
The application of cutting-edge methods, such as CT, 3-D geometric morphometrics, and computer modelling, to problems in Neanderthal research

1. Neanderthals Revisited
K. Harvati and T. Harrison

2. The Distinctiveness and Systematic Context of Homo neanderthalensis
I. Tattersall and J.H. Schwartz

3. Saccopastore 1: The Earliest Neanderthal? A new Look at an Old Cranium
E. Bruner and G. Manzi

4. Inquiries into Neanderthal Cranio-facial Development and Evolution: `Accretion¿ vs `organismal¿ models
Rosas, M. Bastir, C. Martínez-Maza, A. García-Tabernero, and C. Lalueza-Fox

5. Neanderthals and Modern Humans ¿ Chimps and Bonobo
M.S. Ponce de León and C.P.E. Zollikofer

6. Cranial Growth models: Heterochrony, heterotopy, and the kinematics of Ontogeny
C.P.E. Zollikofer and M.S. Ponce de León

7. Bioenergetic Perspectives on Neanderthal Thermoregulatory and Activity Budgets
S.E. Churchill

8. How different were Neanderthals¿ Habitual Activities? A Comparative Analysis with Diverse Groups of Recent Humans
O.M. Pearson, R.M. Cordero, and A.M. Busby

9. Neanderthal Hands in their Proper Perspective
W.A. Niewoehner

10. Did Neanderthals make the Châtelperronian Assemblage from La Grotte du Renne (Arcy-Sur-Cure, France)?
S.E. Bailey and J.-J. Hublin

11. The Fate of European Neanderthals: Results and Perspectives from Ancient DNA Analyses
D. Serre and S. Pääbo

12. Selection on Mitochondrial DNA and the Neanderthal Problem
J. Hawks
13. Reliability of Cranial Morphology in Reconstructing Neanderthal Phylogeny
K. Harvati and T.D. Weaver

14. Non-metric Variation in Recent Humans as a Model for Understanding Neanderthal-Early Modern Human Differences: Just How 'Unique' are Neanderthal Unique Traits
J.C.M. Ahern

15. Earliest Upper Paleolithic crania from Mladec, Czech Republic, and the Question of Neanderthal-Modern Continuity: Metrical Evidence from the Fronto-Facial Region
G. Braüer, H. Broeg, and C. Stringer

16. Neanderthals and Modern Humans: An Example of a Mammalian Syngameon
T.W. Holliday

17. Speciation by distance and temporal overlap: A New Approach to Understanding Neanderthal Evolution
J.-L. Voisin

18. The Neanderthal-H. sapiens Interface in Eurasia
C. B. Stringer