Peopling of the World: Europe

What did one Neanderthal say to the other Neanderthal?

This mostly complete Neanderthal skeleton was found at Kebara Cave.


You may not have thought about the answer to that question, but many
anthropologists have. The discovery of a Neanderthal hyoid
bone in Kebara Cave in Israel has made some anthropologists believe
that Neanderthals were capable of complex speech like modern
humans. Others believe that the debate over Neanderthals and speech
will never end because the soft tissue of the vocal tract
cannot fossilize.

Neanderthal History


Who were the Neanderthals? Are they part of the species Homo sapiens
or a separate branch on the evolutionary tree? This is one
of the debates anthropologists have been enthralled with since the
first discovery of Neanderthal remains in 1856 (Gibbons, 1992).

Herman Schaafhausen recognized the fragmentary remains of a cranium
and leg and arm bones found in Feldhofer cave in Neander
Valley as "primitive" (Foley and Lewin, 2004) and a variant of modern
humans. Neandertals continue to cause much debate and
controversy in the world of anthropology. The debate on where the
Neandertals fit in on the phylogenetic tree has yet to be
resolved; in the meantime, many smaller debates have arisen
concerning the life history, culture, and language of Homo
neanderthalensis. The discovery of a small Neandertal neck bone in
the Middle East has intensified the debate on Neandertal
speech capabilities, which started in 1970, (Bower, 1992) leading
many anthropologists to believe Neandertals were capable of
speech much like modern humans today.

Homo neanderthalensis dominated the Middle to Late Pleistocene dating
from 130,000 to 35,000 years ago. Their world was confined
to Eurasia, stretching from Uzbekistan to the Iberian plateau in
Spain (Stringer and Gamble, 1993). The Neanderthals were not the
only population present 130,000 years ago. To the south of Europe is
Africa where other closely related, yet physically distinct
populations thrived (Stringer and Gamble, 1993).

Compared to anatomically modern humans, Neanderthals are more robust
and their bodies are built to withstand the cold weather of
Eurasia; while anatomically modern humans are more gracile. So what
led to the extinction of such a dominating species of
hominins? "The period of first contact with anatomically modern
humans to total disappearance of Eurasian Neandertals spanned
50,000 years" (Lieberman, 1992). Why did extinction take so long?
Neandertals were obviously in competition with their
successor, Cro-Magnon, who some believe were selected for because
they had the ability for complex speech. However, without the
soft tissue of the vocal tract and only the fossil record, how can
anthropologists be certain Neandertals could not speak?
Some facts to make you ask questions!



In order to answer the question of speech among Neanderthals, we must
first understand how speech is produced and what is required
to speak. After these questions are answered, the vocal tract of
Neanderthals must be reconstructed from the Neanderthal remains
in the fossil record. The discovery of a hyoid bone at Kebara Cave
in Israel has helped anthropologists visualize the vocal
tract, as well as, make some anthropologists believe Neanderthals
were capable of complex speech just like modern humans.

The two voice-producing structures located in the neck are the larynx
and the pharynx. In mammals, the position of the larynx is
either high up in the neck allowing the animal to swallow and breathe
at the same time, or it is positioned low in the neck
causing the air passages to close during swallowing. Humans possess
the latter position, while all other mammals and infant
humans have a larynx positioned high up. Lieberman et al. (1992)
discovered that the position of the larynx is reflected in the
shape of the bottom of the skull and by looking at this feature, it
is possible to tell something about the verbal skills of
extinct hominin species. Where was the larynx positioned in
Neanderthals?

It is not certain where the larynx was positioned in Neanderthal
anatomy; however, the discovery of a hyoid bone from a
Neanderthal skeleton at Kebara Cave in Israel does help to better
piece together the anatomy of the Neanderthal vocal tract. The
hyoid bone is a small, U-shaped bone that lies between the root of
the tongue and the larynx and is connected to the muscles of
the jaw, larynx, and tongue. The Kebara hyoid is almost identical to
a modern human hyoid (Bar-Yosef et al., 1992). Baruch
Arensberg, whose team discovered the bone, says this feature is proof
that Neanderthals had the same language capacity as modern
humans (Foley and Lewin, 2004).

It has been argued that one must possess the physiology stated
above, as well as, the mental capacity of a modern human to
produce complex speech(Gamble and Stringer, 1993). However, the
brain size of Neanderthals ranges from 1100-1400 cubic
centimeters; which is larger than in modern humans (Foley and Lewin,
2004). Along with differences in brain size and the
discovery of the bone, several additional finds at Kebara Cave have
helped anthropologists better understand the Neanderthals.

From these finds it appears Neanderthals were sophisticated, but
sophisticated enough the speak? Such things as hearths and an
abundance of lithics indicate a well-organized manner, as well as an
efficient use of raw materials (Bar-Yosef et al. 1992). Is
this enough to say Neanderthals had language?


The argument gets heated...!

The debate over the speech capabilities of Homo
neanderthalensis continues to grow everyday. All that remains to
spur this debate are the fossils, but how difficult is it to
reconstruct behavior (including linguistic behavior) from the remains
in the fossil record? (Gibbons, 1992) This question has created two
camps of debaters: the pro-Neanderthal speech camp and the anti
-Neanderthal speech camp (Gibbons, 1992). The head of the pro-speech
camp is David Frayer, a paleoanthropologist for the
University of Kansas. With his data from a Neanderthal hyoid bone
and a reconstructed skull, Frayer believes it is "now time to
reject the notion that Neanderthals lacked the capacity for modern
speech" (Frayer, 1992). Leading the pack of anthropologists
who believe Neanderthals were not capable of modern complex speech
are Brown University linguist Philip Lieberman and anatomist
Jeffery Laitman of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. Lieberman and
Laitman believe that the Neanderthal vocal tract is similar to
that of a human infant and never evolved into that of modern Homo
sapiens (Gibbons, 1992).

Neanderthal remains were the first fossil human remains
to be found and are contemporaries of modern humans (Foley and
Lewin, 2004). One of the most famous sets of Neanderthal remains is
from La Chapelle Aux Saints in France. Jean-Louis Heim of
the National Museum of Natural History took on the challenge of
reconstructing the famous Neanderthal skull of La Chapelle, which
had been falling apart due to decades of handling (Gibbons, 1992).
His results showed a more angled base of the cranium than in
previous reconstructions (Heim, 1989). This angle indicates a
lowered placement of the larynx, similar to that of human adults.

A high larynx leaves little room for pronouncing sounds necessary for
recognizable speech (Lieberman, 1992). David Frayer used
this reconstruction along with another piece of evidence found in
Kebara Cave near Mount Carmel in Israel.


Kebara Cave and the finds!

Mugharet el-Kebara is located on the western side of Mt. Carmel and
is at about 60-65 m above sea level. The arched entrance is
essentially the same as it was during the Middle Paleolithic and
early Upper Paleolithic times. The entrance of Kebara is made of
limestone, while the cave itself was formed within dolomite. The
material from the site has been dated using absolute dating
techniques like Carbon 14. According to the results of Bar-Yosef et
al. (1992), the most complete Neanderthal skeleton (KMH2) was
found in Kebara Cave and is about 60,000 years old. The skeleton is
lacking its entire cranium, except for the hyoid bone. The
hyoid bone is a small, U-shaped bone that lies between the root of
the tongue and the larynx and is connected to the muscles of
the jaw, larynx, and tongue (Foley and Lewin, 2004). Baruch
Arensburg, whose team discovered the bone, says this feature is proof
that Neanderthals had the same language capacity as modern humans
(Foley and Lewin, 2004). Lieberman and camp feel that the hyoid
bone and the reconstructed skull are not enough to definitely answer
the question concerning Neanderthal speech capabilities.


The argument continues...

Jeffery Laitman argues that comparative studies of various
hominids show that Neanderthals had a larynx positioned higher
in the throat than humans, and as a result lacked the vocal tract
anatomy to produce the range of sounds necessary for modern
human speech (Gibbons, 1992). Laitman, Lieberman, and anatomist
Edmund Crelin compared the skulls of fossil hominids with those
of present-day human adults and newborns, apes, and chimpanzees.
From the comparisons, the team found that the base of the skull
can be used to predict the structure of the vocal tract (Lieberman,
1992). For example: a flat cranium base implies a vocal
tract with a high positioned larynx.

Before Heim reconstructed the La Chapelle cranium, the anti-
Neanderthal speech camp used the skull to show that Neanderthals had
a high positioned larynx because the cranium base was relatively
flat. Even after the reconstruction of the skull produced a
flexed cranium base, Laitman entered Heim's measurements into his
computer, which produced a model with a larynx of a child. A
child's larynx is not low enough to produce rapid speech. The flexed
cranium base is a derived trait that differentiates
anatomically modern humans from extinct hominids like
australopithecines and Homo erectus. In contrast, Neanderthal fossils
retain the primitive condition-the unflexed base cranium (Lieberman,
1992). Lieberman also feels that the specimen KMH2 is not
enough to say Neanderthals were capable of speech because the base
cranium does not exist. Therefore the vocal tract of
Neanderthals cannot be reconstructed from the Kebara remains
(Lieberman, 1992).

In the end...

Anthropologists involved in this debate are set in whether or not
Neanderthals had the capability for complex speech, but one
question will remain unanswered. Is the fossil record enough? How
can we be certain that Neanderthals did or did not speak if the
soft tissue of the vocal tract and tongue do not fossilize? Research
has gone as far as it can go until the next fossil
Neanderthal discovery is made. The pro-Neanderthal speech camp has a
weaker case than the anti-Neanderthal speech camp, in that
their results are based primarily on one bone. Unfortunately, like
many anthropological debates, this one will never be truly
answered.

Works cited page

Bar-Yosef et al. 1992. The Excavations in Kebara Cave, Mt. Carmel.

Current Anthropology 33: 533-534.



Bower, B. 1992. Neanderthals to Investigators: Can we talk? Science

News 141:230.



Foley, R.A., & Lewin, R. 2004. Principles of Human Evolution. Malden,

MA: Blackwell Publishing Company.



Frayer, David. 1992. Cranial Base Flattening in Europe:
Neanderthals

and more recent Homo sapiens. American Journal of Physical

Anthropology 14:77.



Gamble, C. & Stringer, C. 1993. In Search of the Neanderthals:
Solving

the Puzzle of Human Origins. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd.



Gibbons, Ann. 1992. Neanderthal Language Debate: Tongues Wag Anew.

Science 256: 33-34.



Lieberman et al. 1992. The Anatomy, Physiology, Acoustics and

Perception of speech: Essential Elements in Analysis of the

Evolution of Human Speech. Journal of Human Evolution 23: 447-67



Lieberman, Philip. 1992. On the Kebara KMH2 Hyoid and Neanderthal

Speech. Current Anthropology 34: 172-175.




Lieberman, Philip. 1992. On Neanderthal Speech and Neanderthal

Extinction. Current Anthropology 33: 409-410.