The linguistic abilities of Neanderthals, the closest ancestors to modern humans, have been largely debated. A new study helps settle the decades-long debate with evidence in favor of team Neanderthal.
Researchers at University of Binghamton in New York State and Universidad de Alcalá in Spain recently discovered that Neanderthals did indeed have similar auditory and speech capacities to modern-day humans. The conclusion was reached after various CT scans and 3D models of the ear structures of both Neanderthals and modern humans.
The findings indicate that we may share more similarities with Neanderthals than scientists previously thought.
Neanderthals went extinct about 40,000 years ago. Early studies comparing these species to modern humans relied heavily upon evidence left behind in the form of fossils and archaeological records. However, the last decade gave rise to metagenomic analyses, which allowed us to study the genetic material of species from environmental samples. This modern-day tool ...
