that Middle Paleolithic people shared structural relationships with modern
humans in terms of their vocal tracts.They appear to be as “anatomically
capable”of speech as modern humans...(Arensburg et al.1990)Some contested this conclusion,maintaining that hyoids of pigs more
closely resemble humans than the Neanderthal hyoid from Kebara
(Laitman,Gannon,and Raidenberg 1989;Lieberman 1993,1994;Stringer
and Gamble 1993).For example,Laitman stated,“using the exact same
measurements [of Kebara],I can show you that pigs’ hyoids in many
ways are more similar to modern humans”(quoted in Gibbons 1992:34).
To some this may seem like an odd animal to draw comparisons with,
especially since pigs are considered offensive to both Arabs and Jews in
the Levant,but perhaps the animal was selected since a pig tooth was
found in the grave fill surrounding the Kebara Neanderthal.Since
pigs are incapable of the full range of human vocal sounds,it would be
of some consequence if their hyoid and that of humans more closely
resembled each other than either resembled the Kebara Neanderthal.
As shown in figure 14.1,the hyoids of living humans and pigs have little
morphological resemblance.We leave it to readers to determine if the
hyoid of the Kebara Neanderthal is more distinct from the human hyoid
than the pig hyoid from the human.Eventually,when hyoids of early
Homoor of australopithecines are found,it will be interesting to see if
they more closely resemble chimpanzee hyoids,but for now,available
evidence indicates that at least the Neanderthal hyoid was utterly
modern.220 David W.Frayer and Chris Nicolay
Figure 14.1
Ventral (anterior) and lateral (side) views of hyoids from Kebara (Neanderthal),a pig,and
a modern Homo sapiens.The pig hyoid has huge lesser horns projecting from either side
of the midline.These cornua minusare extremely small in hominids and not depicted in
the drawings of either the Kebara Neanderthal or the modern human.Unlike pigs,they
are seldom fused to the hyoid body.Fig.14.1