Results from functional imaging studies are often still interpreted using the classical architectonic brain maps of Brodmann and his successors. One obvious weakness in traditional, architectural mapping is the subjective nature of localizing borders between cortical areas by means of a purely visual, microscopical examination of histological specimens. To overcome this limitation, objective mapping procedures based on quantitative cytoarchitecture have been generated. As a result, new maps for various species including man were established. In our contribution, principles of quantitative cytoarchitecture and algorithm-based cortical mapping are described for a cytoarchitectural parcellation of the human auditory cortex. Defining cortical borders based on quantified changes in cortical lamination is the decisive step towards a novel, highly improved probabilistic brain atlas.