Abstract
Various studies have related morphology to bipedalism, type of diet, or chewing. However, the studies so far that relate morphology to language are quite vague or incomplete. The aim of the present study is to analyze different morphometric variables of Homo neanderthalensis, modern human, and chimpanzee mandibles, in order to try to understand how spoken language evolved in our lineage. In a paper published in 2019 (Bermejo, 2019), 37 variables of 20 modern human and 12 chimpanzee skulls were compared. New anatomical parameters were defined. It was concluded that there were mandibular morphological differences that could be related to the development of spoken language. In the present study, seven mandibular parameters for eight Homo neanderthalensis from the Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo (Torre Pacheco, Murcia, Spain) were analyzed and then compared with the parameters previously published by the group in 2019. The exact same methodology was used to analyze the seven parameters in Homo neanderthalensis, modern humans and chimpanzees. Data derived from the results of the study of the mandibular condyle, the inner surface of the mandibular body, and the chin suggest that Homo neanderthalensis speech was different from that of modern humans. New mandibular variables that have not been previously described were included in the study.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arnold SF (1990) Mathematical statistics. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Bermejo-Fenoll A, Puchades-Orts A, Sánchez del Campo F, Panchón-Ruíz A, Herrera-Lara M (1987) Morphology of the meniscotemporal part of the temporomandibular joint and its biomechanical implications. Acta Anat 129:220–226. https://doi.org/10.1159/000146404
Bermejo-Fenoll A, González-Sequeros O, González-González JM (1992) Histological study of the temporomandibular joint capsule: theory of the articular complex. Acta Anat 145:24–28. https://doi.org/10.1159/000147337
Bermejo-Fenoll A, González-Sequeros O, González-González JM (1993) The pig: an animal model for experimentation of the temporomandibular articular complex. Oral Surgery. Oral Med Oral Pathol 75:18–23. https://doi.org/10.1016/0030-4220(93)90399-o
Bermejo-Fenoll A, Panchón A, González J, González O (2002) A study of the movements of the human temporomandibular joint complex in the cadaver. Cranio J Craniomandib Sleep Practice 20(3):181–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/08869634.2002.11746209
Bermejo-Fenoll A, Panchón-Ruíz A, Sánchez del Campo F (2019) Homo sapiens, chimpanzees and the enigma of language. Front Neurosci 13:e558. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.00558
Bermejo-Fenoll, A, Panchón-Ruíz A, Sánchez del Campo F (2021) Hypothesis about the appearance of the vermillion border of the lips in Homo sapiens. Translat Res Anat https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tria.2020.100106
Berwick RC, Chomsky N (2016) Why only us: language and evolution. The MIT Press, Cambridge MA
Bouchet A, Cuilleret J (1979) Anatomía descriptiva, topográfica y funcional. Cara, cabeza y órganos de los sentidos. Buenos Aires: Médica Panamericana.
Bruner E (2017) Language, paleoneurology, and the fronto-parietal system. Front Hum Neurosci 11:349. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00349
Capasso L, Michetti E, D’Anastasio R (2008) A homo erectus hyoid bone: possible implications for the origin of the human capability for speech. Coll Antropol 32:1007–1011
Cappellette M Jr, Nagai LHY, Gonçalves RM, Yuki AK, Pignatari SSN, Fujita RR (2017) Skeletal effects of RME in the transverse and vertical dimensions of the nasal cavity in mouth-breathing growing children. Dental Press J Orthod 22(4):61–69. https://doi.org/10.1590/2177-6709.22.4.061-069.oar
Conde-Valverde M, Martínez I, Quam RM, Rosa M, Vélez AD, Lorenzo C et al. (2021) Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had similar auditory and speech capacities. Naturehttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-021-01391-6
Coquerelle M, Prados-Frutos JC, Rojo R, Mitteroecker P, Bastir M (2013) Short faces, big tongues: developmental origin of the human chin. Public Lib Sci One PLoS One 8:e81287. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0081287
Couly G (2021) Manger, respirer, crier, parler, chanter: l’epopée zoologique du langage. Med Sci 2021(37):1042–1045
Dediu D, Levinson SC (2018) Neanderthal language revisited: not only us. Curr Opin Behav Sci 21:49–55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.01.001
Diogo R, Potau JM, Pastor JF, de Paz FJ, Ferrero EM, Bello G et al (2013) Photographic and descriptive musculoskeletal atlas of chimpanzees. CRC Press, London, FL
Dobson SD, Trinkaus E (2002) Cross-sectional geometry and morphology of the mandibular symphysis in middle and late Pleistocene Homo. J Hum Evol 43(1):67–87. https://doi.org/10.1006/jhev.2002.0563
Falk D (1975) Comparative anatomy of the larynx in man and the chimpanzee: implications for language in Neanderthal. Am J Phys Anthropol 43(1):123–32. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.1330430116
Fitch W, de Boer B, Mathur N, Ghazanfar A (2016) Monkey vocal tracts are speech-ready. Sci Adv 2:e1600723. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1600723
Fukase H, Kondo O, Ishida H (2015) Size and placement of developing anterior teeth in immature Neanderthal mandibles from Dederiyeh Cave, Syria: implications for emergence of the modern human chin. Am J Phys Anthropol 156(3):482–488. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22665
Gaudy JF, Zouaoui A, Bravetti P, Charrier JL, Laison F (2001) Functional anatomy of the human temporal muscle. Surg Radiol Anat 23:389–398
Gokhman D, Agoglia RM, Kinnebrew M, Gordon W, Sun D, Bajpai VK, Naqvi S, Chen C, Chan A, Chen C, Petrov D, Ahituv N, Zhang H, Mishina Y, Wysocka J, Rohatgi R, Fraser HB (2021) Human-chimpanzee fused cells reveal cis-regulatory divergence underlying skeletal evolution. Nat Genet 53(4):467–476. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-021-00804-3
Gokhman D, Nissim-Rafinia M, Agranat-Tamir L, Housman G, García-Pérez R, Lizano E, Cheronet O, Mallick S, Nieves-Colón MA, Li H, Alpaslan-Roodenberg S, Novak M, Gu H, Osinski JM, Ferrando-Bernal M, Gelabert P, Lipende I, Mjungu D, Kondova I, Bontrop R, Kullmer O, Weber G, Shahar T, Dvir-Ginzberg M, Faerman M, Quillen EE, Meissner A, Lahav Y, Kandel L, Liebergall M, Prada ME, Vidal JM, Gronostajski RM, Stone AC, Yakir B, Lalueza-Fox C, Pinhasi R, Reich D, Marques-Bonet T, Meshorer E, Carmel L (2020) Differential DNA methylation of vocal and facial anatomy genes in modern humans. Nat Communhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-15020-6
Gröning F, Liu J, Fagan MJ, O’Higgins P (2011) Why do humans have chins? Testing the mechanical significance of modern human symphyseal morphology with finite element analysis. Am J Phys Anthropol 144:593–606. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21447
Holton NE, Franciscus RG (2008) The paradox of a wide nasal aperture in cold-adapted neandertals: a causal assessment. J Hum Evol 55:942–951. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.07.001
Holton NE, Bonner LL, Scott JE, Marshall SD, Franciscus RG, Southard TE (2015) The ontogeny of the chin: an analysis of allometric and biomechanical scaling. J Anat 226:549–559. https://doi.org/10.1111/joa.12307
Ichim I, Kieser J, Swain M (2007) Tongue contractions during speech may have led to the development of the bony geometry of the chin following the evolution of human language: a mechanobiological hypothesis for the development of the human chin. Med Hypotheses 69:20–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2006.11.048
Jain P, Rathee M (2021) Embryology, tongue. StatPearls (Internet). Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing.
Johansson S (2013) The talking Neanderthals: what do fossils, genetics and archeology say? Biolinguistics 7:036–074
Jungers WL, Pokempner AA, Kay RF, Cartmill M (2003) Hypoglossal canal size in living hominoids and the evolution of human speech. Hum Biol 75:473–484. https://doi.org/10.1353/hub.2003.0057
Konopka G, Bomar JM, Winden K, Coppola G, Jonsson Z, Gao F et al (2009) Human-specific transcriptional regulations of CNS development genes by FOXP2. Nature 462:213–217. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08549
Latarjet M, Ruiz Liard A (1995) Anatomía humana vol. 1 (3rd ed.). México D.F: Panamericana. (pp. 376–381).
Le Cabec A, Kupczik K, Gunz P, Braga J, Hublin JJ (2012) Long anterior mandibular tooth roots in Neanderthals are not the result of their large jaws. J Hum Evol 63(5):667–681. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.07.003
Levi G, de Lombares C, Giuliani C, Iannuzzi B, Aouci R, Garagnani P, Franceschi C, Grimaud-Hervé D, Narboux-Nême N (2021) DLX5/6 GABAergic expression affects social vocalization: implications for human evolution. Mol Biol Evol 38(11):4748–4764. https://doi.org/10.1093/molbev/msab181
Lieberman P (2007) The evolution of human speech: its anatomical and neural bases. Curr Anthropol 48:39–66. https://doi.org/10.1086/509092
Lieberman DE, McCarthy RC, Hiiemae KM, Palmer JB (2001) Ontogeny of postnatal hyoid and larynx descent in humans. Arch Oral Biol 46:117–128. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0003-9969(00)00108-4
Lieberman DE, Krovitz GE, Yates FW, Devlin M, St Claire M (2004) Effects of food processing on masticatory strain and craniofacial growth in a retrognathic face. J Hum Evol 46:655–677. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2004.03.005
Lieberman P (2006) Towards an evolutionary biology of language. Cambridge, Mass. EEUU: Harvard University Press. ISBN: 0–674–02184–3
Mehl MR, Vazire S, Ramírez-Esparza N, Slatcher RB, Pennebaker JW (2007) Are women really more talkative than men? Science 317(5834):82. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1139940
Muto T, Kohara M, Kanazawa M, Kawakami J (1994) The position of the mandibular condyle at maximal mouth opening in normal subjects. J Oral Maxillofac Surg 52:1269–1272. https://doi.org/10.1016/0278-2391(94)90049-3
Navarro-Tomás T (2004) Manual de pronunciación española, 28th edn. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid
Nishimura T, Mikami A, Suzuki J, Matsuzawa T (2006) Descent of the hyoid in chimpanzees: evolution of face flattening and speech. J Human Evol 51:244–254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.03.005
Panchón-Ruiz A, Jornet-Carrillo V, Sánchez del Campo F (2000) Palate vault morphology in Down syndrome. J Craniofac Genet Dev Biol 20(4):198–200
Päßler S, Fischer W-J (2014) Food intake monitoring: automated chew event detection in chewing sounds. IEEE J Biomed Health Inform 18:278–289. https://doi.org/10.1109/JBHI.2013.2268663
Pereira AS, Kavanagh E, Hobaiter C, Slocombe KE, Lameira AR (2020) Chimpanzee lip-smacks confirm primate continuity for speech-rhythm evolution. Biol Let 16:20200232. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2020.0232
Prüfer K, de Filippo C, Grote S, Mafessoni F, Korlević P, Hajdinjak M, Skov L, Hsieh P, Peyrégne S, Reher D, Hopfe C, Nagel S, Maricic T, Fu Q, Theumert C, Rogers R, Skoglund P, Chintalapati M, Dannemann M, Nelson BJ, Key FM, Rudan P, Kućan Z, Gušić I, Golovanova LV, Doronichev VB, Patterson N, Reich D, Eichler EE, Slatkin M, Schierup MH, Andrés AM, Kelso J, Meyer M, Pääbo S (2017) A high-coverage Neandertal genome from Vindija Cave in Croatia. Science 358:655–658. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aao1887
Raposo A, Preisler G, Salinas F, Muñoz C (2011) Glossoplasty with Harada’s technique in a patient with Down syndrome. Int J Odontostomatol 5(3):245–248. https://doi.org/10.4067/S0718-381X2011000300007
Roosenboom J, Hens G, Mattern B, Shriver M, Claes P (2016) Exploring the underlying genetics of craniofacial morphology through various sources of knowledge. Bio Med Res Int 2006:3054578. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/3054578
Rossi RC, Rossi NJ, Rossi NJC, Yamashita HK, Pignatari SS (2015) Dentofacial characteristics of oral breathers in different ages: a retrospective case-control study. Prog Orthod 16:e23. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40510-015-0092-y
Schwartz JH, Tattersall I (2010) Fossil evidence for the origin of Homo sapiens. Am J Phys Anthropol 53:94–121. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21443
Shanhraki N, Yassaei S, Goldani M (2012) Abnormal oral habits: a review. J Dent Oral Hyg 4:12–15
Starbuck JM, Cole TM, Reeves RH, Richsmejer JT (2017) The influence of trisomy 21 on facial form and variability. Am J Genet A 173:2861–2872. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.a.38464
Stoessel A, Gunz P, David R, Spoor F (2016) Comparative anatomy of the middle ear ossicles of extant hominids - introducing a geometric morphometric protocol. J Hum Evol 91:1–25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.10.013
Takemoto H (2008) Morphological analyses and 3D modeling of the tongue musculature of the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Am J Primatol 70(10):966–75. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.20589
Torday JS (2021) Cellular evolution of language. Prog Biophys Mol Biol 167:140–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pbiomolbio.2021.05.009
Trinkaus E, Zapata J, Bayle P, Brown KAR, Alcaraz M, Lombardi AV, Walker MJ (2017) The Palomas mandibles. In: Trinkaus, E. and Walker M.J., Eds. The people of Palomas. Neandertals from the Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo, Southeastern Spain. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 30–51.
Trinkaus E, Walker MJ (eds) (2017) The people of Palomas. Neandertals from the Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo, Southeastern Spain. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas
Walker MJ, Gibert J, López Martínez MV, Lombardi AV, Pérez-Pérez A, Zapata J, Ortega J, Higham T, Pike A, Schwenninger J-L, Zilhão J, Trinkaus E (2009) Late Neandertals in southeastern Spain: Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo, Murcia, Spain. Proc Nat Acad Sci U.S.A. 105(52):20631–20636. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0811213106
Walker MJ, Lombardi AV, Zapata J, Trinkaus E (2010) Neandertal mandibles from the Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo, Murcia, southeastern Spain. Am J Phys Anthropol 142:261–272. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.21223
Walker MJ, Zapata J, Lombardi AV, Trinkaus E (2010) New evidence of dental pathology in 40,000-year-old Neandertals. J Dent Res 90:428–432. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022034510387797
Wang DM, Kraft S, Rohani P, Murphy GF, Besaw RJ, Karia PS, Morgan FC, Schmults CD (2018) Association of nodal metastasis and mortality with vermilion vs cutaneous lip location in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of the lip. J Am Med Assoc Dermatol 154(6):701–707. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamadermatol.2018.0792
Willman JC (2017) The Palomas dental remains: nonmasticatory wear. In: Trinkaus, E., Walker, M.J., Eds. The people of Palomas. Neandertals from the Sima de las Palomas del Cabezo Gordo, Southeastern Spain. College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, pp. 155–174.
Woo J, Xing F, Stone M, Green J, Reese TG, Brady TJ, Wedeen VJ, Prince JL, El Fakhri G (2019) (2019) Speech map: a statistical multimodal atlas of 4D tongue motion during speech from tagged and cine MR images. Comput Methods Biomech Biomed Eng Imaging vis 7(4):361–373. https://doi.org/10.1080/21681163.2017.1382393
Zaffaroni Piaggio A, Fiorestti H (2010) Influencia de las funciones en el crecimiento y desarrollo craniofacial. Actas odontológicas 7 (1), 15–30. https://doi.org/10.22235/ao.v7i1.1074
Acknowledgements
The authors thank José Antonio Quesada-Rico, BSc, MPH, PhD. Biostatistical researcher (Department of Clinical Medicine, Miguel Hernández University of Elche (Spain); GRINCAVA Cardiovascular Research Group grincava.umh.es), the Murcian Association for the Study of Palaeoanthropology and the Quaternary which facilitated the study of the Neanderthal fossils at the Sima de las Palomas Laboratory of the Torre Pacheco Municipal Integrated Security Centre. Ms. Carolle Partington for revising the English manuscript, and Ms. Elena Tarí-Amorós for transcribing the manuscript and processing the figures.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors listed have made a substantial, direct, and intellectual contribution to the work and approved it for publication.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bermejo-Fenoll, A., Panchón-Ruíz, A. & Walker, M. Neanderthal, Sapiens, and chimpanzee mandibles: a comparative study in relation to articulated speech. Archaeol Anthropol Sci 14, 116 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01575-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01575-6