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The increase of brain size relative to body size -encephalization -is intimately linked with human evolution. However, two genetically different evolutionary lineages, Neanderthals and modern humans, have produced similarly large-brained human species. Thus, understanding human brain evolution should include research into specifi c cerebral reorganization, possibly refl ected by brain shape changes. Here we exploit developmental integration between the brain and its underlying skeletal base to test hypotheses about brain evolution in Homo. Three-dimensional geometric morphometric analyses of endobasicranial shape reveal previously undocumented details of evolutionary changes in Homo sapiens . Larger olfactory bulbs, relatively wider orbitofrontal cortex, relatively increased and forward projecting temporal lobe poles appear unique to modern humans . Such brain reorganization, beside physical consequences for overall skull shape, might have contributed to the evolution of H. sapiens ' learning and social capacities, in which higher olfactory functions and its cognitive, neurological behavioral implications could have been hitherto underestimated factors.

Celebrating the annus mirabilisWe are grateful to Chris Evans for convening and introducing this imaginative archaeological tribute to the work of Charles Darwin, 150 years after the publication of his On the origin of speciesthe inspiration for an evolutionary concept of history in so many fields. June 2009 is also the 150th anniversary of a yet more momentous event in the history of archaeology, the endorsement of the antiquity of human tool-making by observations in the Somme gravels. Clive Gamble and Robert Kruszynski reconstruct the occasion and publish the famous axe for the first time. Chris Evans returns to present us with the bitter-sweet spectacle of the Darwin family as excavators and Tim Murray rediscovers a suite of pictures made for John Lubbock which show how prehistoric life was envisaged in polite society at the time. Lastly we are grateful to Colin Renfrew for his own reflections on the anniversary.

Three hundred and forty-eight cranial remains from Bronze and Iron Age British, Romano-British, Anglo-Saxon, Eastern Coast Australian aborigines, Medieval Christian Norse, Medieval Scarborough, 17--20th century British and German cultures, were examined for the presence of osteoarthritis in the temporomandibular joints. Cultures exposed to more stringent living conditions and with well-worn teeth had about twice the incidence of osteo-arthritis as the more sophisticated cultures. In general, loss of either molar support or occlusal imbalance were potent aetiological factors in this disease.