Re: Did H. erectus speak?

Thanks Richard for the reference to Walker & Shipman's "The Wisdom of Bones". Wish those bones spoke to me in the same way they speak to W & S.

Nariokotome Boy (or Turkana Boy) has been labeled both Homo ergaster or Homo erectus. It also has been compared with both Peking Man and Java Man. Any idea why?

Just because its thoracic innervation was far less than in H. s. sapiens could be something peculiar to the individual rather than to the species as a whole.

HTH,

Gerry

----- Original Message -----

From: richard.wordingham@...

To: Nostratica@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2003 1:51 PM

Subject: [Nostratica] Re: Did H. erectus speak?

For a readable discussion of H. erectus and speech, I recommend 'The Wisdom of Bones' by Alan Walker & Pat Shipman. Alan Walker was involved in the excavation of the best H. erectus specimen (dated 1.53 +/- 0.05 Myears BP), the Nariokotome boy (KNM-WT 15000) - an adolescent. Its thoracic innervation was far less than in H. s. sapiens, which all suggests it could not control breathing well enough to talk - an interpretation due to Gwen Hewitt. Richard.