Auditory capacities of human fossils: A new approach to the origin of speech

Abstract

The origin and evolution of human language has mainly dealt with the reconstruction of the upper respiratory tract of human fossils. 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. The results thus obtained in the more than 500 ky old fossils from the Sima de los Huesos site (Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain) show that this hominins had the same auditory capacities as modern human, suggesting an older origin for speech than any previous study.