Did Neanderthals invent music?
It was a dark and stormy night, and in a cave in what is now southern France, Neanderthals were singing, dancing and tapping on stalagmites with their fingernails to pass the time.Did this Ice Age rave-up happen, perhaps 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, on a cold night in the Pleistocene Epoch? Or is it purely a figment of the imagination of Steven Mithen, professor of early prehistory at the University of Reading in England?
Impossible to know, Mithen, 45, readily admits, but in his book, “The Singing Neanderthals,” he has built a strong case that our hominid ancestors had a musical culture, and a rudimentary form of communication that went with it, that has left traces deeply embedded in modern mankind.
I don’t know about this. It’s generally thought that Homo sapiens out-competed Neanderthals because of our ability for abstract thought, language, and speech, evidenced by burial decorations, cave art, a longer vocal tract, etc. Maybe music is deeply rooted, but (based on my understanding) would have been less likely in Neanderthals.
Clenched fist salute: Michael at Innocent Bystanders.
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