Did Neanderthals Invent Music? June 6, 2006
Posted by Michael in Music, Science.trackback
Here's an interesting theory on how language and music may have evolved, and how they relate to each other. This could explain the way Dave looks when he does the hokey pokey.
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
The Neanderthal skeleton, at left, is compared with a modern human skeleton.
By Michael Roddy
Updated: 9:02 p.m. ET June 5, 2006
READING, England – It was a dark and stormy night, and in a cave in what is now southern France, Neanderthals were singing, dancing and tapping on stalagmites with their fingernails to pass the time.
Did this Ice Age rave-up happen, perhaps 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, on a cold night in the Pleistocene Epoch? Or is it purely a figment of the imagination of Steven Mithen, professor of early prehistory at the University of Reading in England?
Impossible to know, Mithen, 45, readily admits, but in his book, "The Singing Neanderthals," he has built a strong case that our hominid ancestors had a musical culture, and a rudimentary form of communication that went with it, that has left traces deeply embedded in modern mankind.
They were darker, back in the day.
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I’m sure they could have made ample use of the Philips Norelco Bodygroom too. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
I can’t believe it’s bigger. Though I still believe I could kick a ‘thals ass.
I wondered why the rib cage is flared and found this:
“A striking ribcage that continued to flare out giving the Neanderthal no waist. One explanation for this wide and deep ribcage was that it would have retained heat better in a cold environment, which would have been a clear advantage as Neanderthals lived during the Ice Age.”
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/about-us/news/2005/feb/news_3642.html
Tapping on stalagmites, eh? Rock music is much older than we thought!
“We will, we will, stalagmite you!”
Yeah, you wouldn’t find a modern skeleton with a flared ribcage, wider hips, and a large cranium. Nope. Today, we ALL look like the skeleton on the right. It’s science.
I still don’t get why you have those pictures of Kate Moss and Calista Flockhart with this post.
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