Neanderthals may have talked
2007-10-19 10:41
London - Neanderthals, often
portrayed as grunting, club-carrying brutes, may have been
capable of sophisticated speech, researchers said Thursday.
A DNA analysis shows Neanderthals share with humans two key
changes in the FOXP2 gene known to be involved in speech,
raising the possibility the species possessed some
prerequisites for language, the researchers said.
"From the point of this gene at least the Neanderthals
could have had language like we do," said Johannes Krause, a
biochemist at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, who led the
study.
But many as yet unknown genes may also underlie the
capacity for language, the researchers added.
FOXP2 produces a protein that turns other genes on and off
and people who carry a non-functioning copy of the gene have
speech and language problems.
Animals ranging from mice to orangutans have the gene and
scientists had thought a relatively small change in FOXP2
emerged just as humans did less than 200 000 years ago.
The findings published in Current Biology suggest the
genetic variation occurred long before, potentially as long as
400 000 years ago.
"We were surprised to find the same variant of the FOXP2
gene that humans have," Krause said. "This suggests that the
last common ancestor Neanderthal and humans shared had this
gene."
Dead-end offshoot
Neanderthals were a dead-end offshoot of the human line who
inhabited Europe and parts of west and central Asia. Research
indicates they were expert tool-makers, used animal skins to
keep warm and cared for each other.
Most researchers believe Neanderthals survived in Europe
until the arrival of fully modern humans about 30 000 years ago
although controversial findings last year suggested they might
have survived until as recently as 24 000 years ago.
Nobody knows if Neanderthals could talk but this finding
shows they had at least had a key genetic change required for
speech - an evolutionary edge critical for human survival,
Krause said.
"Language is a more sophisticated way to pass on knowledge
to the next generation," he said. "You live like an infant if
you do not learn."
In their study, the researchers extracted DNA from a
collection of Neanderthal remains recently excavated from a
site in Northern Spain.
Because the bones were so well preserved, the scientists
were also able to retrieve nuclear DNA from Neanderthals,
opening the way for a more complete understanding of human and
Neanderthal evolution, Krause said.
"Nuclear DNA is the DNA in the nucleus of the cell that
makes up nearly all the genetic information people carry. We
can now study every Neanderthal gene we are interested in."