DNA Study Shows Neanderthals May Have Spoken | Advances in the History of Psychology

Although this may have more to do with the history of the psyche than with the history of psychology… DNA

According to a LiveScience.com story, a study of Neandethal DNA conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany shows that the early humans possessed a gene “which is to date the only one known to play a role in speech and language.” Various versions of the gene in question, FOXP2, occur in many animals, but the version found in Neanderthal DNA is identical to that found in modern humans. According to the story, “People with an abnormal copy of this gene have speech and language problems.” The research team that conducted the research was led by paleogeneticist Johannes Krause. His study appear online Oct. 18 in the journal Current Biology.