A mystery about human evolution may have been finally solved by scientists who claim that Neanderthals had the ability to see and realize language like us.
Researchers reconstructed the hearing of our closest old human relatives to paint a picture of how they communicated.
By studying CT scans, scientists were able to create meaningful 3D models of the ear structures in Homo sapiens and Neanderthals as well as earlier fossils.
Specialized software was then used to estimate their hearing capabilities up to 5 kHz, which covers most of the frequency range of today’s human speech sounds.
The team, from Binghamton University in the United States and Alcala University in Spain, also measured the so-called bandwidth, which gives an idea of how effective communication is in terms of width.
Results show that Neanderthals had a wider bandwidth compared to their ancestors from Atapuerca, an important archaeological site in Spain known for its wealth of human fossils.
This means that Neanderthals’ ears were “tuned” to see speech frequency.
“This is the key,” said Mercedes Conde-Valverde Professor at the University of Alcala, lead author of the research, which is published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.
“The presence of similar hearing aids, especially bandwidth, demonstrates that the Neanderthals had a communication system that was as complex and efficient as modern human speech. ”
Professor Rolf Quam, from Binghamton University, said: “One of the other interesting findings from the study was the suggestion that Neanderthal language included more use of consonants.
“Most previous studies of Neanderthal speech have focused on their ability to pronounce the main vowels in English.
“However, we feel that this emphasis has gone wrong, as the use of consonants is a way of bringing more information into the vocal signal and also separates human speech and language from the patterns of communication in almost every other prime minister.
“The fact that our study is about this is an interesting part of the research and is a new recommendation for the language abilities of our fossil ancestors.”