Frayer David W, Fiore Ivana, Lalueza-Fox Carles, Radovcić Jakov, Bondioli Luca
Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, USA.
J Anthropol Sci. 2010;88:113-27.
Seven Vindija (Croatia) Neandertal teeth, dated about 32,000 years ago, were analyzed to determine patterning of scratches on the anterior teeth. Oblique scratches exclusively on the labial faces of incisors and canines represent a distinctive pattern, characteristic of hand directed, non-masticatory activities. At Vindija and elsewhere these scratches reveal activities, which were performed primarily with the right hand. The late Neandertals from Vindija, combined with other studies, show that European Neandertals were predominately right-handed with a ratio 15:2 (88.2%), a frequency similar to living people. Studies of teeth from Atapuerca extend this modern ratio to more than 500,000 years ago and increase the frequency of right- handers in the European fossil record to almost 94%. Species-wide, preferential right-handedness is a defining feature of modern Homo sapiens, tied to brain laterality and language with the 9:1 ratio of right- to left- handers - a reflection of the link between left hemispheric dominance and language. Up-to-date behavioral and anatomical studies of Neandertal fossils and the recent discovery of their possession of the FOXP2 gene indicate Neandertals (and, very likely, their European ancestors) had linguistic capacities similar to living humans.
对七颗来自克罗地亚温迪加洞穴、距今约32000年的尼安德特人牙齿进行了分析，以确定前牙上划痕的模式。仅在门牙和犬齿唇面出现的斜向划痕代表了一种独特的模式，这是由手部引导的非咀嚼活动的特征。在温迪加洞穴和其他地方，这些划痕揭示了主要用右手进行的活动。来自温迪加洞穴的晚期尼安德特人，结合其他研究表明，欧洲尼安德特人主要是右利手，比例为15:2（88.2%），这一频率与现代人相似。对来自阿塔普埃尔卡的牙齿研究将这种现代比例追溯到50多万年前，并将欧洲化石记录中右利手的频率提高到近94%。在全物种范围内，优先使用右手是现代智人的一个决定性特征，与大脑偏侧性和语言相关，右利手与左利手的比例为9:1，这反映了左半球优势与语言之间的联系。对尼安德特人化石的最新行为和解剖学研究以及最近发现他们拥有FOXP2基因表明，尼安德特人（以及很可能他们的欧洲祖先）具有与现代人相似的语言能力。
