Preface. Preamble. I Evolution to the Advent of the Mammals. Formation of Universe and Earth. Appearance of Life. The Cambrian Explosion of Diverse Life Forms. The First Chordates and Vertebrates. The First Tetrapods. The Earliest Mammals. Summary and Conclusions. II Primates to Hominids and the Advent of Bipedalism. The Primates. The Anthropoids. The Hominid Lineage. The Advent of Bipedalism. Obstetrics and the Pelvis. Summary and Conclusions. III Evolution of the Genus Homo. Homo Habilis. Homo Erectus. Archaic Homo sapiens and the Neanderthals. The Morphology and Origin of Anatomically Modern H. sapiens sapiens. Evidence from Molecular Biology. Migration and Expansion. Summary and Conclusion. IV Art and Prehistory. Art and Culture of the Mousterian and Acheulian. The Art of the European Upper Palaeolithic. The Psychology of Art, Ancient and Recent. Summary and Conclusions. V Language and Communication. The Coevolution of Genotype and Language. The Prehistory of Spoken Language. Language, Speech and Communication. (How) did Language Evolve? Critical Periods and Speech Perception. Categorical Perception. Categorization in Nonhuman Communication. Language Meditation by a Distributed Network. Apes and Language. A View of Language Evolution. Gesture and Language. Summary and Conclusions. VI The Central and Peripheral Realization of Speech. Speech and Articulation. The Supralaryngeal Vocal Tract in Apes and Humans. The Supralaryngeal Tract in Apes and Neanderthals. Did Homo habilis Possess Speech-related Areas in the Brain? Speech-related Areas and Aphasia in Homo sapiens sapiens. Category Specificity and Semantic Representation. Neuroimaging and Speech Localization. Summary and Conclusions. VII Tool use and Praxis. Nonhuman Tool Use. Hominid Tool Use. Movement, The Frontal-Basal Ganglia Circuits and Praxis. Apraxia: The Loss of the Ability to Use Tools. Praxis, Tool Use and Language Evolution: Is a Synthesis Possible? Summary and Conclusions. VIII Encephalization and the Growth of the Brain. The Allometric Ratio. The Growth of Encephalization in the Fossil Record. Laminar and Columnar Organization in the Cortex. Neurogenesis and Brain-Body Growth and Development. Plastic Reorganization in the Adult Brain. Whole Object Recognition and "Binding". Brain Size and Intellectual Capacity. Summary and Conclusions. IX Intelligence, Social Intelligence, Consciousness and Self Awareness. The Evolution of Intelligence. The Theory of Machiavellian Intelligence. Self-Recognition in Mirrors and Self-Awareness. Consciousness. Summary and Conclusions. X An Overview. Postscript. References.