Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Functional reconstruction of the supralaryngeal vocal tract of fossil human

  • Published:
Human Evolution

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to reconstruct the supralaryngeal vocal tract of the archaic human from Petralona in Greece and to assess its vocal abilities. The reconstruction of the position of the hyoid bone of the Palaeolithic hominid from Petralona has been done by using the relation between the flexion of the basicranium and the inclination of the processus styloideus. The results indicate the lower position of the larynx in the fossil hominid. This conclusion was confirmed by an assessment of the position of the hyoid bones by extrapolating from a sample of 45 x-rays scans of recent adult human males.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Arensburg B., A.M. Tillier B. Vandermeersch H. Duday L.A. Scheparz and Y. Rak, 1989.A Middle Palaeolithic human hyoid bone. Nature, 338: 758–760.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdial I., 1987.Nos ancetres ne savaient pas dire “je”. Science et vie, 835: 23–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clarke R.J., 1976.New cranium of Homo erectus from Lake Ndutu, Tanzania. Nature, 262: 485–487.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dixon J.W. (ed.), 1975.BMDP Biomedical Computer Programs. University of California Press, Berkeley, Los Angeles, London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Donald M., 1991.Origins of the Modern Mind. Three Stages in the Evolution of Culture and Cognition. Harvard University Press: Cambridge, Mass, and London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Du Brul E.L., 1976.Biomechanics of speech sounds. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 280: 631–642.

    Google Scholar 

  • Falk D., 1975,Comparative anatomy of the larynx in man and chimpanzee: implications for language in Neanderthal.

  • Grolier de E., 1988.Glossogenesis in endolinguistic and exolinguistic perspective: palaeoanthropological data. In:Studies in Language Origins, Volume 1, ed. by J. Wind, E.G. Pulleyblank, E. de Grolier and B.H. Bichakjian. pp. 73–138. John Benjamins Publishing Company: Amsterdam/Philadelphia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habgood P.J., 1989.An investigation into the usefulness of a cladistic approach to the study of the origin of anatomically modern humans. Human Evolution, 4: 241–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heim J.-L., 1985.La nouvelle reconstitution de l’homme de la Chapelle-aux-Saints. Film. Paris: S.F.R.S.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hewes G.W., 1973.Primate communication and the gestural origin of language. Current Anthropology, 14: 5–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holloway R.L., 1982.Homo erectus brain endocasts. International de Paleontologie humaine. Colloque international du CNRS, 1: 355–369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howell F.C., 1978. Hominidae. In V.J. Maglio and H.B.S. Cooke, (eds.)Evolution of African Mammals. Cambridge (Mass): Harvard University Press, pp. 154–248.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hublin J.J., 1987.L’origine de l’homme moderne en Europe et en Afrique du nord. 2nd International Congress of Human Paleontology, Turin, Resumis des communications, p. 229–230.

  • Jacob T., 1966.The sixth skull cap of Pithecanthropus erectus. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 25: 243–269.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ki Chan L., 1992.The Deduction of the Level of the Human Larynx from Body Landmarks. Programme and Abstracts of the 8th Meeting of Language Origins Society, Sept. 7–10, 1992, Selwyn College, Cambridge, United Kingdom.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laitman J.T., 1983.The evolution of the hominid upper respiratory system and implications for the origins of speech. In:Proceedings of the Transdisciplinary Symposium on Glossogenetics, Paris, 1981, ed. by E. de Grolier, pp. 63–90. Paris: Harwood Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laitman J.T., 1985.The evolution of the hominid upper respiratory tract: The fossil evidence. InHominid evolution: Past, present and future, ed. by P.V. Tobias, pp. 281–286. New York: Alan R. Liss.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laitman J.T. 1986.The Evolution and Development of the Human Upper Respiratory Tract. InThe biology of change in otolaryngology ed. by R.W. Ruben, pp. 105–113. Elsewier Science Publishers B.V.

  • Laitman J.T. 1987.Konnte unser Urahn sprechen? Bild der Wissenschaft, 5: 38–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laitman J.T. and E.S. Crelin, 1976.Postnatal development of the basicranium and vocal tract region in man. InSymposium on Development of the Basicranium ed. by J.F. Bosma, pp. 206–219. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laitman J.T. and R.C. Heimbuch, 1982.The basicranium of Plio-Pleistocene hominids as an indicator of their upper respiratory systems. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 59: 323–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laitman J.T. and J.S. Reidenberg, 1988.Advances in Understanding the Relationship between the Skull Base and Larynx with Comments on the Origins of Speech. Human Evolution, 3: 99–109.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laitman J.T., R.C. Heimbuch and E.S. Crelin, 1978.Developmental change in a basicranial line and its relationship to the upper respiratory system in living primates. American Journal of Anatomy, 152: 467–483.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laitman J.T., R.C. Heimbuch and E.S. Crelin, 1979.The basicranium of fossil hominids as an indicator of their upper respiratory systems. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 51: 15–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Larnach S.L. and Macintosh N.W.G., 1966.The Craniology of the Aborigenes of Coastal New South Wales. Oceania Monographs No. 13.

  • Larnach S.L. and Macintosh N.W.G., 1970.The Craniology of the Aborigenes of Queensland. Oceania Monographs No. 15.

  • Leakey R.E.F. and Walker A.C., 1985.Further hominids from the Plio-Pleistocene of Koobi Fora, Kenya. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 67: 135–164.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lewin R., 1991.La naissance de l’anthropologie moleculaire. La Recherche, 236: 1242–1251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman P., 1968.Primate vocalizations and human linguistic ability. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 44: 1574–1584.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman P., 1984.The Biology and Evolution of Language. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman P., 1988.On Human Speech, Syntax and Language. Human Evolution, 3: 3–18.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman P., 1991.Uniquely Human: The Evolution of Speech, Thought and Selfless Behavior. Harvard University Press.

  • Lieberman P. and E.S. Crelin, 1971.On the speech of Neanderthal man. Linguistic Inquiry, 2: 203–222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman P., E.S. Crelin and D.H. Klatt, 1972.Phonetic ability and related anatomy of the newborn, adult human, Neanderthal man, and the chimpanzee. American Anthropoloist, 74: 287–307.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lieberman P., D.H. Klatt and W.H. Wilson, 1969.Vocal tract limitations on the vowel repertoires of rhesus monkey and other nonhuman primates. Science, 164: 1185–1187.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lumley M.-A. de and Sonakia A., 1985.Premiere decouverte d’un Homo erectus sur le continent Indien a Hatnora, dans la Moyenne Vallee de la Narmada. L’Anthropologie, 89: 13–61.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magriples U. and J.T. Laitman 1987.Developmental change in the position of the fetal human larynx. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 72: 463–472.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mania D. and E. Vlcek 1987.Homo erectus from Bilzingsleben (GDR) — his culture and his environment. Anthropologie, 26: 1–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshack A., 1992.The Origin of Language: An Anthropological Approach. InLanguage Origin: A Multidisciplinary Approach, ed. Wind, J., Chiarelli, B., Bichakjian, B., Nocentini, A. and Jonker, pp. 421–448. A.Dordrecht/Boston/London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCrone, J., 1991.The Ape that Spoke. In LOS Forum 16, Spring 1993.

  • Minugh-Purvis N., 1988.How did Neanderthals grow? Paper presented at the Symposium on the Questions of Human Origins: The Evidence in Conflict. University Museum, University of Pennsylvania.

  • Rightmire G.P., 1980.Homo erectus and human evolution in the African Middle Pleistocene. In L.K. Konigsson (ed.)Current Argument on Early Man. Oxford: Pergamon Press, pp. 70–85. Rightmire, G.P., 1983.The Lake Ndutu cranium and early Homo sapiens in Africa. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 61: 245–254.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stringer C.B., 1986.The credibility of Homo habilis. In: B. Wood, L. Martin and P. Andrews, Eds.,Major Topics in Primate and Human Evolution, pp. 266–294. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stringer C.B. and P. Andrews, 1988.Science, 239: 1263.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stringer C.B., J.J. Hublin and B. Vandermeersch., 1984.The origin of anatomically modern humans in Western Europe. InThe Origins of Modern Humans ed. by F.H. Smith and F. Spencer, pp. 51–135. New York: A. Liss.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tillier A.M., 1988.Croissance et development chez les Neandertaliens. Dossiers Histoire et Archeologie, Special Issue: L’Homme de Neandertal, 124: 34–39.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobias P.V., 1978.Position et role des australopithecines dans la phylogenise humaine, avec étude particuliére de Homo habilis et des theories controversies avancies a propos des premiers hominides fossiles de Hadar et de Laetoli. In: E. Bone, Ed. Les Origines Humaines et les epoques de l’Intelligence, pp. 38–77. Paris: Masson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tobias P.V., 1991. “The Emergence of Spoken Language in Hominid Evolution,” Cultural Beginnings: Approaches to Understanding Early Hominid Life—Ways in the African Savanna. Proceedings of the Eleventh Congress of the Union des Sciences Prehistoriques et Protohistoriques, Mainz, 1987. Ed. J. Desmond Clark. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt, pp. 67–78.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trinkaus E., 1987.Neanderthal manipulation. 2nd International Congress of Human Paleontology, Turin, Resumis des communications, p. 185–186.

  • Valladas H., Reyss J.L., Joron J.L., Valladas G., Bar-Yosef O. and Vandermeersch B., 1988.Thermoluminescence dating of Mousterian “Proto-Cro-Magnon” remains from Israel and the origin of modern man. Nature, 331: 614–645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vancata V., 1981.Utilization of Mathematical Methods in the Study of the Human Evolution: The Problem of the Morphofunctional Research in Palaeoanthropology. Anthropologie, XIX/3: 205–217.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vark van, G.N., 1976.A critical evaluation of the application of multivariate statistical method to the study on human populations from their skeletal remains. Homo, 27: 94–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vlcek E., 1978.Transformation of the metacarpal bones and some short hand muscles of the Neanderthal man. XIXth morphological congress symposia. Charles University, Prague. 88–99.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weidenreich F., 1943.The skull of Sinanthropus pekinensis: a comparative study on a primitive hominid skull. Palaeontologia Sinica, n.s.D, No. 10 (whole series No. 127).

  • Weidenreich F., 1951.Morphology of Solo man.Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History, 43: 205–290.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wind J., 1970.On the phylogeny and ontogeny of larynx: A morphological and functional study. Groningen: Wolters-Noordhof Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wind J., 1978.Fossil Evidence for Primate Vocalization? In recent Advances in Primatology ed. by Chivers D.J. and K.A. Jorsey, vol. 3, pp. 87–91. London-New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wolpoff M.H., Wu Xin Zhi and A.G. Thorne, 1984.Modern Homo sapiens sapiens: a general theory of hominid evolution involving the fossil evidence from East Asia (and Australia). In The Origins of Modern Humans ed. by F.H. Smith and F. Spencer, pp. 411–483. New York: A-Liss.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anthropology and Ethics First Medical Faculty, Charles University, Prague, U nas 3, CS 147 00, Prague 4, Czech Republic

    I. Budil

Authors
  1. I. Budil
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Budil, I. Functional reconstruction of the supralaryngeal vocal tract of fossil human. Hum. Evol. 9, 35–52 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02438138

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02438138

Key words

Search

Navigation