Neanderthal, Human Ancestor Could Chat

July 9, 2008 -- Language and associated activities, such as singing, likely emerged well before the first modern humans set foot on Earth, concludes a new study that found a Neanderthal relative possessed hearing consistent with individuals that communicate by speaking.

If they had the equipment, then they must have put it to use, suggests the research team, which was led by geologist Ignacio Martinez Mendizabal of Spain's Alcala University.

"We do believe that language must have appeared at least in the last common ancestor of both the Neanderthals and the Homo sapiens lineages," Mendizabal told Discovery News.

The ancestor was Homo antecessor, who lived around 800,000 to 1,000,000 years ago.

For their study, Mendizabal and his colleagues focused on a more recent member of the family of man, Homo heidelbergensis, which dates to at least 530,000 years ago and predates both Neanderthals and people. This strapping hominid was tall, measuring six feet on average, and had a big head, along with a more muscular physique than modern humans.

The researchers analyzed bones from five such individuals that lived at Sima de los Huesos, a cave in Atapuerca, Spain. Using skull bones, they created very detailed three-dimensional computerized tomography (CT) reconstructions of the cave dwellers' outer and middle ear. CT involves multiple X-ray-like images that serve as thin slices, which gradually build whole body parts or other structures.

The comprehensive model revealed that the Atapuerca human-ish residents had a heightened sensitivity to sounds falling between one and five kilohertz, a range linked to listening to speech that other primates seem to lack.