Arensburg B, Schepartz L A, Tillier A M, Vandermeersch B, Rak Y
Department of Anatomy and Anthropology, Sackler Medical School, Tel Aviv University, Israel.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 1990 Oct;83(2):137-46. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.1330830202.
The recovery of a fossil hominid skeleton with a complete hyoid bone from Mousterian deposits in Kebara Cave, Israel, provides new evidence pertaining to the evolution of speech. Previous studies of speech in the Middle Palaeolithic (most notably those on Neandertals) have focused on the basicranium as an indicator of speech capabilities. This work critiques the use of the basicranium and instead presents the anatomical relations of the hyoid and adjacent structures in living humans as a basis for understanding the form of the vocal tract. The size and morphology of the hyoid from Kebara and its relations to other anatomical components are almost identical to those in modern humans, suggesting that Middle Palaeolithic populations were anatomically capable of fully modern speech.
在以色列凯巴拉洞穴的莫斯特阶沉积物中发现的一具带有完整舌骨的化石原始人类骨骼，为言语进化提供了新证据。此前对旧石器时代中期言语的研究（最著名的是对尼安德特人的研究）主要聚焦于颅底，将其作为言语能力的指标。这项研究对颅底研究的应用提出了批评，转而提出以现代人类舌骨及相邻结构的解剖关系作为理解声道形态的基础。凯巴拉洞穴舌骨的大小、形态及其与其他解剖结构的关系几乎与现代人类的相同，这表明旧石器时代中期的人群在解剖学上具备了完全现代的言语能力。
