The life-history and evolution of fossil vertebrates may be studied through the analysis of their mineralised tissues. The mineralization of bone tissue during life allows the preservation of skeletal parts after the death of the organism, which become –together with teeth– the bulk of the mammalian fossil record. Although traditionally considered a static element, bone is in fact a dynamic and complex tissue that grows throughout life of the organism, changing in size, shape and position (Enlow, 1982) in response to a variety of internal and external stimuli. The dynamic nature of bone tissue together with the strength allow bones to perform structural functions –providing mobility, support, and protection for the body, as well as a reservoir for essential minerals. At the histological level, bones grow and react to stimuli modulating the activity of the cells responsible for the formation and removal of bone tissue. As a consequence, histological features due to the activity of the bone cells provide fundamental information about growth processes as well as about other aspects, such as mechanical loadings, age at death, pathologies or diet. In this sense, bone paleohistology, or the study of the structure of fossil bone tissue, is a powerful tool that may provide key information on the evolution and biological aspects of the fossil human populations. The present contribution starts with a review of the bone biology, describing the bone structure and the osteological variables commonly used in paleohistological studies. Then, we review the paleohistological studies of the growth processes involved in the craniofacial evolution of modern humans and the fossil species more closely related to them than any other living species (hominins sensu Aiello & Collard, 2001). In this point, we describe the available histological data about the craniofacial complex from fossil hominins and the JASs is published by the Istituto Italiano di Antropologia Bone Paleohistology and Human Evolution Cayetana Martínez-Maza, Antonio Rosas & Samuel García-Vargas Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Department of Paleobiology, 28006 Madrid, Spain: e-mail cayetana@mncn.csic.es Summary – Bone Paleohistology is the study of the microstructure of mineralized bone tissue of fossil skeleton. Life-history and biological evolution of hominins may be studied through the analysis of their mineralised tissues. Bones grow changing in size and shape, and perform structural and reservoir functions in respond to a variety of stimuli, which influence the bone cellular mechanism responsible of the growth of bone tissue. Structure and the osteological variables of the bone tissue provides a great source of information about aspects of hominin evolution such as growth processes, estimation of age at death, diet, pathologies, and biomechanics. The paleohistological approach to growth processes in human craniofacial evolution is considered in depth. The histological data of facial skeleton and mandible of hominins fossils and extant apes allow one to obtain the species-specific bone modeling pattern. These results are discussed in a phylogenetic context to understand the relationship between the anatomical features that characterize the hominin craniofacial morphology. Furthermore, the modeling pattern obtained for ontogenetic series of three living species allow to infer the dynamic processes of craniofacial growth in development of the organism. Finally, the implications of the bone paleohistological studies in other anthropological fields are briefly explained. Keywords – Human evolution, Histology, Bone modeling. JASs Invited Reviews Journal of Anthropological Sciences Vol. 84 (2006), pp. 33-52 Introduction www.isita-org.com