文章基本信息

标题：The origin of language: paleontological evidence
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作者：Ignacio MARTÍNEZ et al.
期刊名称：Communication on Contemporary Anthropology
印刷版ISSN：1939-0580
电子版ISSN：1936-4458
出版年度：2010
卷号：4
页码：202-203
DOI：10.4236/coca.2010.41043
出版社：Hans Publishers
摘要：The origin and evolution of speech can be approached from the analysis of the paleontological record. Historically, this has mainly dealt with the reconstruction of the upper respiratory tract of human fossils [1-2]. However, after decades of controversy no clear results have arisen from these studies. We propose a new approach to this issue based on the possibility to reconstruct the sound power transmission, through the external and middle ear, in fossil specimens. Of all the human special senses, audition is the most readily accessible in skeletal remains since it is based on physical properties that can be approached through their skeletal structures [3-4]. Studying auditory capacities in fossil species is a major challenge, but has become feasible since the advent of CT-based analyses. The results obtained in the more than 500 kyr old fossils from the site of the Sima de los Huesos (SH) in the Sierra de Atapuerca (Spain) show that these hominins had the same auditory capacities as modern humans [5]. Specifically, they show a widened bandwidth of heightened sensitivity in the midrange frequencies compared with chimpanzees. The Mathematical Theory of Information developed by Claude Shannon [6-7] offers an appropriate theoretical framework within which to interpret these results. The widened bandwidth suggests a greater channel capacity characterized the Atapuerca (SH) hominins, a feature that is directly correlated with the amount of acoustic information that can be received by the human ear