Wasn't that in "Eight miles"?
Neanderthals, the close relations of modern man who died out around 30,000 years ago, had their own music and dance, an academic says.
| Yeah. The kid at the traffic light four cars back was playing some. I could hear it... |
Professor Steven Mithen of Reading University also thinks the cave- dwellers would have enjoyed the rhythms and sounds made by rap artists. He said: "People often portray Neanderthals as dull and grumpy but they had a strong sense of music."
| Yeah. I can glance at a few bones and tell if the deaders had a strong sense of music, too... |
Their songs would have covered emotions such as embarrassment and happiness.
| Just like the songs of primitive people today, right? The ones that aren't singing about whatever diety's in charge, anyway. How does he even know Neanderthals felt embarrassment? Or happiness, for that matter? They may have spent their entire existence grumpy... |
Prof Mithen told the BBC News website: "All people are musical in the sense that they appreciate it in some way. We all respond to it. Music and language developed together. The Neanderthals would have had set songs and phrases, which could not be broken down like modern language. They would have used singing, clapping and dancing to communicate their state of mind. They didn't have words."
| How'd he figure that? On the basis of (as far as I know) a single flute? Since they had hyoid bones, they were apparently capable of speaking and speaking implies words, though it doesn't necessarily imply singing, dancing, or any kind of party animal behavior. |
"In a sense they were more musical than we are."
| Sounds to me like he's found a thread and tried to turn it into a coat. |
Neanderthals would have sounded rather "nasal" in their singing because of their larger noses, Prof Mithen said. Their get-togethers in caves helped group bonding.
| How does he know their primary residences were caves? We may only have evidence from the po' folks who had to live in caves, while everybody else was building houses out of wood that wouldn't leave much, if any, evidence after 30,000 years. |
Prof Mithen said: "There would have been a lot of singing together. Music is still used for a bonding groups today. Just look at football crowds, church choirs or kids in the playground.
| Maybe they played basketball, too... |
"The Neanderthals would have enjoyed it.
| Not if they were grumpy. They could have sat around at the football games hollering "Goddammit!" instead of singing and dancing... |
They weren't particularly creative people but they would have passed on little songs down the generations. "They would have danced and slapped their bodies and banged sticks."
| The would have done the Boogaloo, too. In fact, I'm sure they did... |
Neanderthals, who had fully evolved vocal tracts and a wide range of emotions, shared a common ancestor - Homo heidelbergensis - with man. They would have mimicked birdsong and other natural sounds for their music.
| That's because they were descended from Homo heidelbergensis, though I happen to know that rather than singing, Homo heidelbergensis contented himself with playing the trombone... |
It is thought that language, separate from music, developed with modern man's immediate African forebears. But, according to Prof Mithen, words are not necessary, as long as the tune is good. He said: "Had a Neanderthal attended a rock concert, they would have liked it and recognised that it was music.
| I've heard a few rock bands and failed to realize it was music. Maybe Neanderthals were smarter than I am... |
"I think they would have particularly liked rap music. It has the sort of effect Neanderthals would have enjoyed. I can see them rapping in my mind."
| I'll stick with my vision of Homo heidelbergensis playing his trombone in a doleful minor key and he slouched to extinction... |
Prof Mithen's book, The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language and the Mind, is published on 7 July. |