Neanderthals: Did They Have Language?

Now it's unclear when the language-linked gene arose, since Heidelberg Man may have first emerged around 600,000 years ago. But Krause said "it would be more plausible" if the changes to the gene arose just before humans and Neanderthals split "around 350,000 years ago, and not much before."

Researchers continue to debate whether or not modern humans and Neanderthals interbred. If they did, that could explain the shared gene and the propensity for speech. Studies on that question remain inconclusive, however.

Krause said he and his team have found "no hard evidence" of interbreeding, but "the Neanderthal genome sequence will ultimately solve this question."

Eric Trinkaus, a Washington University anthropologist, shared with Discovery News a commentary he wrote on the new research.

In it, Trinkaus expresses his view that there is no "silver bullet" like language, "which identifies us as 'human' and which can be used to identify past human forms as more or less 'human.'"

Trinkaus wrote that the findings "not only permit the much maligned Neanderthals a degree of human behavior that has been evident in their burials and archaeological record for 100 years, they also permit a perspective on the emergence of modern human behavior — including language."

The study, he suggests, may not only change our view of Neanderthals, but also of ourselves.