Dedui Levinson 000010

In sum, the evidence points to modern speech capacities in the common ancestor of Neandertals and modern humans.The auditory specializations for speech on the modern bandwidth are present, the morphology of the larynx looks modern, and air sacs have been replaced by a finely controlled pulmonic airstream mechanism for vocalization. In addition, the gene that is known to be involved in the fine motor control necessary for speech FOXP2, has its modern form (although possibly not all of its modern regulatory environment). Interestingly, all these changes occurred in the transition from Homo erectus to Homo heidelbergensis, the common ancestor to both Neandertals and modern humans. We suggest therefore that this common ancestor was an articulate mammal.