A reappraisal of the anatomical basis for speech in Middle Palaeolithic hominids

The recovery of a fossil hominid skeleton with a complete hyoid bone from Mousterian deposits in Kebara Cave, Israel, provides new evidence pertaining to the evolution of speech. Previous studies of speech in the Middle Palaeolithic (most notably those on Neandertals) have focused on the basicranium...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inAmerican journal of physical anthropology Vol. 83; no. 2; p. 137
Main Authors Arensburg, B, Schepartz, L A, Tillier, A M, Vandermeersch, B, Rak, Y
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.10.1990
Subjects
Animals
Fossils
History, Ancient
Hominidae - anatomy & histology
Hominidae - physiology
Humans
Hyoid Bone - anatomy & histology
Israel
Speech
Israel
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Summary:The recovery of a fossil hominid skeleton with a complete hyoid bone from Mousterian deposits in Kebara Cave, Israel, provides new evidence pertaining to the evolution of speech. Previous studies of speech in the Middle Palaeolithic (most notably those on Neandertals) have focused on the basicranium as an indicator of speech capabilities. This work critiques the use of the basicranium and instead presents the anatomical relations of the hyoid and adjacent structures in living humans as a basis for understanding the form of the vocal tract. The size and morphology of the hyoid from Kebara and its relations to other anatomical components are almost identical to those in modern humans, suggesting that Middle Palaeolithic populations were anatomically capable of fully modern speech.
ISSN:0002-9483
1096-8644
DOI:10.1002/ajpa.1330830202