I am particularly interested in the evolutionary significance of the distinctive craniofacial architecture of the Neandertal skull in terms of the developmental, biomechanical, and stochastic models underlying its evolution over the last 300,000 to 400,000 years in Europe and western Asia. I am also interested in the definition and operationalization of the concept of ‘anatomical modernity,” especially from the perspective of functional growth matrices within the hominid cranium. In particular, I have focused on evolutionary changes in respiratory physiology through the study of the naso-facial evolution, but I have also extended this question to post-cranial anatomy by focusing on comparative thoracic anatomy. Recent projects include: 3-D computer reconstruction and modeling of Neandertal respiratory and vocal tract anatomy and implications for language evolution; analysis and description of the Pavlovian early modern cranial remains from Dolni Vestonice in the Czech Republic; description and analysis of the early Upper Paleolithic child’s facial skeleton from the Abrigo do Lagar Velho, in Portugal controversially argued to show a mixture of Neandertal and early modern human anatomy; and 3-D modeling of bite force potential and efficiency in Neandertals and modern humans in order to test biomechanical models involving paramasticatory behavioral influences on Neandertal facial form.